


Misdemeanor Trouble

by asingerofsongs, MayGlenn



Series: Stars and Skies [11]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: A Pissed Off General Organa Does Not Kid Around, Abandonment Issues, Anal Sex, Asexual/Sexual relationship, Badass Finn, Badass Rey, Consequences, Dreams and Nightmares, Dubious Consent, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Finn Doesn't Deserve This, Finn Is The Voice of Reason, Force Crystals, Hand Jobs, Healing Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Inappropriate Use of the Force, M/M, Mind Control, Multi, Nightmares, Oral Sex, Past Torture, Poisoning, Polyamory Negotiations, Porn with Feelings, Power Bottom Poe Dameron, Protective Finn, Rey and Poe Have a Reckless Streak, Some Plot, Torture, Wet Dream, here comes the General
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-06-09 23:21:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6928369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asingerofsongs/pseuds/asingerofsongs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayGlenn/pseuds/MayGlenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We go anyway," she whispered. "Tomorrow, early."</p><p>Finn looked up in surprise. "...Didn't Master Luke just say it was too dangerous?" he asked, though he knew the answer. Luke had definitely said it was too dangerous. He looked at Poe, slightly alarmed.</p><p>But Poe was grinning wickedly, his wild, we’re-gonna-do-this face. "Yeah, he did," he said, eyes sparkling at Rey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a Dean Winchester line: "We talkin' like, misdemeanor kind of trouble, or uh, 'squeal like a pig' trouble?"

"Wait, so now you _don't_ want me to pilot you to Mortis?" Poe said, rearing his head back incredulously at Master Skywalker. It was a week later, he finally had that stupid boot off his foot, and had even rotated the schedule so he could take a few days off for this Super Secret Jedi Business. "You could have told me before I studied all those star charts and had to trade redeye shifts so I could have the week off, Master. Not cool."

"It's just too dangerous," Luke said, raising both hands as if to calm the clamor.

"Well—where _else_ can we find kyber crystals?" Rey demanded, looking so disappointed she almost seemed desperate.

Poe glanced sidelong at her, and she looked so crushed it awoke a fiercely protective instinct in him. The kind that made him stupid.

"They're not impossible to find. I have other leads we can investigate, instead of courting tragedy by going to Mortis. Don't worry, Rey, we'll find force crystals—it may just take a while," Luke said, and Rey made a frustrated noise. How long would it take? It had taken this long to find out about Mortis, and it had been their best lead. But she knew when not to argue with her Master, which was basically always, and eventually she sighed and shrugged.

"Alright," she said, and Luke smiled gently, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I know you're disappointed. I'll teach you how to sense the crystals more reliably, and as soon as I have a concrete lead, you'll be more than prepared to go searching," he told her, and she nodded.

Poe glanced at Finn, who had said nothing, and looked even a little relieved. They'd have to do something to make it up to her.

He was surprised, therefore, to hear Rey's immediate suggestion once they were at dinner:

"We go anyway, without him," she whispered. "Tomorrow, early."

Finn looked up from his plate in surprise. "...Didn't Master Luke just say it was too dangerous?" he asked, though he knew the answer. Luke had definitely said it was too dangerous. He looked at Poe, slightly alarmed.

But Poe was grinning wickedly, his wild, we’re-gonna-do-this face. "Yeah, he did," he said, eyes sparkling at Rey.

"I'm sure we can handle it," Rey said. "I mean, the _snake keeper_ made it there to get a lizard. I'm sure with the three of us we can make it there and back for some kyber crystals—which don’t even spit acid."

Poe shrugged. "I _did_ already schedule myself the week off..."

"That doesn't mean he didn't have help!" Finn said. "What if something happens?" How was he the only person who was even a little concerned?

"What if she doesn't get her force crystals, hm?" Poe replied. "You don't have to go," he tried, knowing that was kind of low. "You could cover for us," he suggested with a shrug, distantly aware they would probably get into trouble for this but confident it was misdemeanor-trouble rather than court-martial-trouble. He'd already begged off for him and Finn, anyway, so it wasn’t like they were deserting their posts or anything. "As long as you're cool with disobeying Master Skywalker, Rey," he said with some glee, "I won't let you go alone."

"That's not fair—how could I possibly stay here? I'd be so worried everyone would know something was up, and I may think you're both being reckless, but if you're going to be reckless at least I can go with you," Finn said, annoyed that now it looked like Poe's little guilt trip trick had worked on him. "But I won't _like_ it," he said, grouchy at both of them, and poked at the food on his plate. Eventually he sighed and got up. "I'm going back to the room, I want to make sure I have everything together. See you later," he said, and left.

Poe winced as Finn got up, and he and Rey looked at each other.

“That was my fault,” Poe said. “I’m notoriously bratty when I don’t get my way. Ask anyone. Especially the General, she’s known me since I was two.”

Rey shook her head. “No, I forced him into this.”

They stared at each other.

“What do we do?” Rey asked. The only way she knew how to apologize to someone was to give them food, and she didn’t think that would mean the same thing here.

Poe chewed the inside of his lip. “I think we go apologize.”

“Then we’re _really_ forcing him into this,” Rey said nervously.

“I think we’re doing that by virtue of being people he loves,” Poe said.

They got up together, and went after him.

"Finn," he said, finding him in their room. "I'm sorry for saying it like that. You're right, of course, but I think Master Skywalker is being..."

"He doesn't _know_ ," Rey said, folding her arms. "But if you _really_ don't want us to go..." She left that hanging.

"Rey, of _course_ I don't want you to go, you're risking _your lives_ , which are more precious to me than even my own life, and it bothers me that you're both shrugging off Luke's hesitance like he's not a trained, experienced Jedi who absolutely does know what he's talking about. But if it's what you’re going to do, I'm not going to try to stop you," Finn answered, wandering into the bathroom for no reason—he didn't need anything there, but he didn't want to argue with either Rey or Poe about this or anything.

After a moment, staring at himself in the mirror, he came back to lean in the doorway, arms crossed. "And I'm _not_ letting you go alone, either. I love you both, and I'd follow you anywhere, even if you wanted to go back to Jakku. All you had to do was _ask_." It kind of hurt, frankly, that they thought he had to be guilted into following them, but he was going anyway. On the off-chance something _did_ happen, at least he'd be there to help, which would be better than being here and waiting for bad news.

Rey and Poe looked down at their feet, thoroughly chastened. "Finn, I'm sorry," Poe finally said, as Rey blurted out "You're right."

They glanced at each other, and Poe stepped close enough to take Finn's hand in his and kiss his knuckles. "I'm sorry. That was—bratty. I _know_ you'd do anything for me, because I know I'd do anything for you. I just wanted to let you know you're not obligated. You're not. Even though—I know—you might as well be." He grinned a little sadly. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, too," Rey said. "And I mean it. If you think we shouldn't go, that's—then we won't. Honestly, I mean it." She screwed her face into something like a brave pout. "I'll just find kyber crystals somewhere else."

"Let's just—think it through?  How much do you know about Mortis? I just...I would like to have a plan of some kind beyond 'we'll figure it out on the way.' This isn’t the Starkiller run, we’re not on the clock, here. We know there's at least one venomous but non-deadly lizard that'll only spit at you if it feels attacked, and may or may not bite..." he said, relaxing a little now that they were no longer arguing.

"Well, I looked at the same material Master Skywalker saw," Rey said, taking Finn's other hand and drawing him to sit on the bed, "and it was things we could deal with. The lizards we know about from the guy: just avoid them. We could wear protective suits and masks for even if we can't avoid them. There are lightning storms, and if Poe can't dodge—"

Poe coughed. "Excuse me? If you're getting us the _Falcon_ I can dodge anything."

"If a magical force-lightning bolt comes out of the sky and gets that one-in-a-million-strike on Poe Dameron," she corrected with a grin, "then I can repair it. Replace fuses and things. We'll bring extra of everything."

"And I studied the star charts," Poe said. "I could get us there in my sleep. And BB-8's coming, too."

BB-8 waved a power coupling and gave a friendly chirp.

“And, you know, we still think the Supreme Leader might be somewhere in that region of space, so if we see anything, we’ll have done important reconnaissance work for the Resistance,” Poe added.

Rey nodded and continued: "I know exactly where the crystals are—or are supposed to be, so we can land close. Once we’re there, I should be able to sense them, to really pinpoint the location. Poe can even keep the engine running, we'll be so quick!" Rey concluded. "See, that sounds safe, doesn't it? Master Luke is just old and feeling guilty, I think. About...a lot of things. And that makes him afraid when he shouldn't be."

Finn looked from Rey to Poe, thinking silently, and hummed. "Alright. But we're bringing extra first aid kits, and I'm bringing two blasters. We pack as if we're going to get stuck—extra food, emergency blankets, water, and some sort of shelter even if it's just a tarp, and if we leave the ship it all goes with us." He wouldn't be caught out again like he'd been when Poe had been shot, with nothing to help him. "And BB-8 will stay with the ship. If we don't come back within a certain amount of time, he'll send an emergency signal back here, and we'll deal with the repercussions of that later."

"Oh yay, I always loved backpacking," Poe said sarcastically, but raised his hands in surrender at Finn's glare. "But for you, sweetheart, anything," he said, cupping Finn's face and giving him a passionate kiss. "I love how you take care of us," he said tenderly.

"Yes. Good thinking, Finn," Rey said, grabbing her bag to begin packing.


	2. Chapter 2

Pre-dawn the next morning found all three of them fully awake and leaving their room, BB-8 rolling silently behind them. They snuck into the _Falcon_ and Poe and Rey set about pre-flight checks while Finn double-checked that they had all the gear he wanted them to have. By the time the sun rose, they'd slipped quietly from base and were leaving the atmosphere, Finn having curled up in the booth of the holochess table because he'd stressed himself into not sleeping the previous night.

Poe and Rey were laughing together in the cockpit, Poe telling Rey about some crazy dogfight that had ended up in a draw—

"No seriously, Rey, I am not kidding you! Nobody could land a hit! Not me, not Iolo, not Karé, nobody! And—" he snorted with laughter here, which made Rey cackle, "and the kriffing _First Order_ , like, give me a break. Rey, we started to run out of fuel! _Fuel_ , Rey!" Rey was helpless with laughter. "We eventually just—they started to pull back, and we like, tried to sh—to shoot them and it was just. They turned their tails on us and we couldn't hit a one! We let ‘em go. It was the worst display I've ever seen, holy nerfherders, wow. Had to make up some story about targeting systems being off-line…but we just actually had a shit day, all of us."

Rey laughed and sat back, sighing. "Reminds us how human we all are." She was serious now. "Them, too."

Poe nodded, sobering. He knew it. "Yeah. Hey, where's Finn?"

"I think he fell asleep at the holochess table. I can keep an eye on autopilot if you want to go talk to him," she offered, and Poe nodded gratefully. Even though Poe had precious few opportunities to fly the _Millennium Kriffing Falcon_ , well, Finn was hotter than this bucket of bolts could ever be ( _Sorry, Han_ ), and Poe still felt guilty about last night—

"Thanks," he said, kissed her cheek, and went back to find Finn curled up asleep. He looked so cute Poe didn't want to disturb him, so he settled in next to his head and challenged BB-8 to a game of holochess.

Finn stretched as he awoke, and his hand bumped against someone. "Mmph?" he asked and blinked his eyes open to see Poe sitting right next to him. "Hey," he said groggily, sitting up and leaning on Poe's shoulder to watch the holochess game between man and droid.

"Hey, love," Poe said, curling his arms around Finn and kissing his hair. “Good nap? You can go back to sleep, we've got another nineteen hours. We should rotate sleeping, actually, so we're rested when we land." He pondered a move, then made it, and BB-8 took a piece. He swore, and the droid gurgled happily. "But you should sleep on my lap instead," he said, nuzzling into his hair. "You okay?" he asked after a minute. 'Are you still mad at me?' sounded kind of selfish.

"Just tired," Finn replied, reaching over for one of Poe's hand, needing the touch to reassure him that they really were okay. "I didn't mean to fall asleep for that long," he added. He was going to fall asleep again if he wasn't careful. "Everything alright in the cockpit?" he asked, too much of a coward to ask if Rey was annoyed with him, even though she hadn't acted like it when they'd left. He hadn't really given her the opportunity, or Poe, though.

"Of course. We're gonna be fine, Finno," Poe insisted, giving him a squeeze. "You can go back to sleep. Want me to sleep with you? Like," he laughed, realizing how that sounded, "actually _sleep_ ,” he corrected, “though you know I could always be otherwise persuaded..." He winked, hoping the joke would comfort them both.

"There's definitely not room right here for either kind of sleeping together," Finn told him, and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "But we could go elsewhere when BB-8 is done beating you at chess," he suggested. He wasn't sure whether he just wanted to actually sleep, or if he wanted to curl up as close to Poe as physically possible and see where it went, or if maybe he wanted a mix of both—either way, a tiny, cold bench was probably not going to cut it.

Poe raised an eyebrow at that and grinned. _Maybe Finn wasn't mad after all?_ he thought, and played to lose as quickly as possible. BB-8 gave an annoyed bleat and flounced off to see Rey. "Bed?" He said, lurching to his feet and helping Finn up. But the spark in Finn's eyes only made him feel more guilty. "Finn. Thank you for coming with us," he said, when he perhaps meant to say something else. "In spite of your better judgment." He grinned. That much was true. Finn was easily the least hotheaded among the three of them (when the other two of them were safe, anyway).

"You're welcome," Finn told him with an answering grin. "Bed. Does Rey need to know so she can wake one of us to take a watch? She should sleep, too, at some point, I think her work is going to be the most difficult," he said as he took Poe's hand and nodded for him to lead the way to one of the small cabins aboard the Falcon.

"Nah, she knows where to find us," Poe said, pulling Finn into one of the empty bunks where they had thrown their bags, and he pushed Finn gently down onto the bed, kissing him deeply. "We'll only lie down for a few hours." Poe stepped out of his boots and crawled on top of Finn. "Love you," he practically moaned, "you're so good to us. We don’t deserve you."

Finn hummed, wrapping his arms around Poe's back and hugging him close enough that he barely had to raise his head to kiss him. He didn't rush, relaxed and a little lazy and still drowsy from sleeping. "Love you so much," he said softly in Poe's ear, and then pressed a line of kisses to his cheek.

Poe unbuttoned Finn's shirt deftly, but then took his time kissing from one shoulder to the other with a long foray to Finn's lips in between. "My darling," he hummed, getting Finn's arms where he could pin them and scratch them and just _loving_ how that made Finn stretch out for him, so needy and wanty and—kriff, he looked so innocent and trusting like this. "Love you, sweetheart. Want to make you feel good. So good. Want you to fall asleep in my arms naked and warm and clingy, let me hold you and kiss you and treat you like you have always deserved to be treated. My champion, my beautiful warrior, my Finn," Poe murmured, praising every body part he worshiped with his mouth, his fingers dancing until Finn was totally undressed, and Poe was, too.

Finn blushed at Poe's running commentary and how earnest it was _every single time_ and how much he loved hearing it. Probably that last part made him a little vain. "That's good, because I really want you to do those things. And then I want to do them for you," he told him, relaxing and letting Poe move him wherever he wanted him to be, loving the insistent, gentle way Poe had of being a little pushy when they were in bed together. "Never really knew I could love anyone so much," he told him, grinning crookedly.

"Oh yeah you're so good to me. So lucky to be loved by you, Finn," Poe said, and kissed him. Poe ran his fingernails all down Finn's arms and sides until Finn was so thoroughly relaxed except for the one part of his body that _wasn't_ , and Poe only teased him a little by half sucking him off and pulling back just when Finn was shuddering on the edge and kissing him again, pinning him while he prepared him. Poe showered him with praise throughout, knowing how starved Finn was for it, cataloging for him every part of him that was good and handsome and kind and strong and noble until Finn was a whimpering mess even before they joined. After that neither of them lasted long, and Poe held Finn in a tight grip as they came, Finn slightly before him, and he gentled Finn into sleep with kisses and cleaned up their mess with his tongue before joining Finn in his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also everyone wish ASingerOfSongs good luck on her dissertation defense TODAY! After which she'll be able to get back to replying to all your sweet comments!


	3. Chapter 3

Finn woke up several hours later, according to the chronometer on the wall, and rolled very softly out of bed to dress and go find Rey. She was sitting in the cockpit, which was absolutely silent except for the background whisper of the ship, and she was staring out the window looking half-asleep. Finn tapped quietly on the bulkhead and stepped closer. "Rey? You awake or asleep?" he asked softly, and she started and turned to him, a sudden smile lighting her face. He went and sat next to her in the copilot's chair.

"I thought you were sleeping," she told him, and he shrugged.

"I was, but now I'm not. Want to go take my place?" he asked her, and she yawned. "That was less a question and more a strong suggestion," he added.

"I love you, Finn," she told him as she got up, kissing his forehead as she stood from her seat. "Never change. And…" she paused before saying this: “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said in a timid voice.

Finn smiled and caught her hand to brush a kiss across her knuckles before letting her go to find Poe and curl up next to him.

When Poe woke some hours later, he curled close to the warm body next to him, pulling the slight, sinewy frame against him, burying his face in long, silky hair.

He sat up. "Wait," he said, discovering he was spooning Rey instead of— "Hang on. I thought. Not that I'm complaining but..." He rubbed his face, and Rey blinked awake and laughed. “I thought I was a light sleeper.”

"Finn got up and you were still sleeping,” she answered, grinning comfortably. “And so there was this warm spot next to you…"

Poe laughed. "You realize I'm naked, right?"

"Doesn't bother me. Does it bother you?" She sat up.

"No, no, go back to sleep," Poe laughed, kissing her. " _I’m_ sorry I woke you.” He stayed curled around her, petting her hair, until he felt more awake. With a wistful sigh he shimmied into his clothes and clambered over her. “I'll come get you when we've landed. If you hear screaming, I need a copilot."

"Don't let Finn hear that!" she laughed, and threw a hand over her eyes and was soon asleep.

Finn heard Poe's footsteps—Rey tended to be almost silent, so they were easy to tell apart—and turned in his chair to look back at him. "Are we there yet?" he asked, having learned this from one of the many holovids they'd watched. "How'd you sleep?"

Poe slid into Finn's lap in answer. "Great," he beamed. "And was in the middle of molesting poor Rey when I figured out she wasn't you!" He laughed, cupped Finn's face, and kissed him. "That was a dirty trick to play. Did you get enough sleep, love?" He ran his hands down Finn's arms to hold his hands and he kissed him again.

"Yeah, I slept until I woke up. Rey was half asleep when I came out here, so I told her I'd take over. This is maybe one of the most boring things I've ever done..." he said. There wasn't even much of anything to look at, as fast as they were traveling. "But I didn't crash us into any planets, so I guess that's a success." He grinned and kissed Poe again. "How long until we get there, seriously?" he asked.

Poe grinned and finally tore his eyes away from Finn to look at the console. "Long enough for a quickie in the cockpit?" He said, and then laughed. "Just kidding, sweetheart. We'll drop out of hyperspace in another two hours, and then the alleged fun begins." He grabbed a pack of rations to heat up and split between them. It wasn't as good as the mess hall, but was still better than what the First Order gave them, Finn assured him. Poe made sure Finn got his fill and then brewed a pot of caf so he would be alert. "Okay, can you go wake up Rey? And everybody buckle in just to be safe. Yes, BB-8, that means you too.”

_“Get away from them!” Rey cried, swinging a lightsaber she hadn’t made yet at an army of the frilled lizards. Poe and Finn lay helpless behind her, already poisoned. She needed to protect them! She needed—_

When Finn touched Rey's shoulder to wake her up, she started and scrambled upright. "Finn!” she cried, then looked around her, panting. “Wait what?" she asked no one in particular.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Finn said, touching her face.

It took Rey a moment to focus, but she nodded, scrubbing a hand over her face. “Yeah. Sorry. Dream.” She scrunched her face up, but it was already fading. “It’s fine, just a dream. Is everything okay?”

Finn narrowed his eyes slightly but didn’t push the issue. Sometimes he didn’t like to talk about his nightmares, either. "Poe says to wake up and come buckle in," he said, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. "Just to be safe, though. He doesn't anticipate any trouble, as far as I can tell." Then again, Poe seldom seemed to actually _anticipate_ trouble. Or maybe he just always anticipated it, so to the outsider, it looked the same.

"This is where the fun begins," Poe said, dropping out of hyperspace into—well, wild space, and the _Falcon_ pitched its nose up and then down before Poe could get a handle on it, like it was a boat riding a wave. Pockets of dark matter could be anywhere, gravity wells were everywhere, anomalies, and the Force was, well—crazy here. "Finn, keep an eye on Rey for me, okay?"

"I'm fine, Poe, worry about— _ahh_!" she cried suddenly, clutching her temple as they dropped into a bumpy ride.  

"Hey-oh," he said, pulling up as the _Millennium Falcon_ reckoned with the gravity wells while the sensors were telling him nothing. He was flying blind and hoping that he had the control he thought he did as they slipped and skewed—through _outer_ _space_ , not even atmo yet! "We're okay, she's okay. Come on, Rey, just focus, babe. You got this. Whoa, shit! _There's_ our planet!"

There was just _too much_ Force here. Everything was humming. She could feel Finn and Poe like their minds had suddenly gotten too loud. She felt like she could fly the _Millenium Falcon_ by moving it through space with her mind, and part of her desperately wanted to do that, just to see if she could. But Rey grimaced and dutifully blocked it out. "Okay, good news is I can feel the crystals from here. Northern hemisphere, Poe."

"On it," Poe said as he slammed into the atmo a little hot. At least it behaved, mostly, like normal atmosphere.

"You okay?" Finn asked, and Rey nodded grimly, still scowling. Finn reached over and took her hand, breathing deeply and trying to give her someone to lean on—physically if she needed it, but...mentally, too, or whatever Jedi did. He knew she could get inside his head, anyway, and didn't mind if she did, if it helped her concentrate on the crystals so they could get this done and go home.

And Rey did reach out to him, breathing easier almost immediately. It was scary how much it helped, actually.

Poe was shouting like a maniac—enjoying the danger far too much. The _Falcon_ handled like a large A-wing, zippy almost, and _fun_. He dodged the gravity wells and dark matter nonsense like the _Falcon_ was doing the work for him. He stopped whooping only when Rey gave him more directions as they got closer to the surface. Wild space was, well, wild, and he was gripping the yoke until his knuckles were white, leaning into each jink and yaw. Force, he loved flying. "Isn't this great?" Poe beamed, but Rey looked very focused and Finn was seriously going to strangle him or be sick, so Poe took that back.

"Okay, we need to land at the base of that mountain there—" Rey was explaining, when suddenly, without warning, Rey gasped and bent over double to clutch her head, retreating out of Finn’s mind and into her own.

Poe was about to turn around to check on her when he hit by a horrifyingly familiar pain, like a vice tightening around his brain, like someone reaching inside him with a spade and scooping bits of him out.

_You will tell me where the map is._

Poe screamed and let go of the yoke.

Between Poe screaming and Rey still holding her head and looking unhappy, Finn wasn't paying attention to the ground—of course he wasn't, because the pilot was supposed to do that, but the pilot wasn't paying attention because the pilot was _screaming_ like he was being _tortured_.

“Poe! Rey!” Finn reached over and put a hand on Poe’s shoulder, trying to snap him out of it, but had no luck. And Rey wouldn’t look up and then he felt a pounding in his own head, like a sound that was too low to hear but was trying to rattle him apart. Was this what the Force felt like?

Finn had very little time to wonder before they crashed.

Sort of crashed. It was somewhere between a landing and a crash, though Finn didn't keep track of exactly what happened. Once he was sure they were no longer moving, he shifted in his seat, pleased to find that there was nothing more wrong with him than bruises from the safety harness. "Poe? Rey? Are you alright?" he asked.

Poe remembered fighting through the pain, the shuddering terror at _that_ _voice inside his head_ , to yank up on the yoke and flick through half the landing cycle—but he was pretty sure, even still, that their landing had nothing to do with his efforts.

It was like something wanted them there.

And just like that, once they landed, the pain and the fear and the voice were gone, like they had never been there, and he shook himself, dazed.

"Rey? Finn?" Poe tried turning around, forgetting he was strapped in, and unbuckled himself hastily, dropping to his knees in front of Rey's chair, where she still groaned and held her head. "Hey. Hey, darling, sweetheart, you okay, you with us?" he said, touching her hair, gripping Finn's jacket with the other. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know what—happened. Do you want us to leave? Want me to get us out of here?" Poe looked up at Finn, desperate.

Rey was baring her teeth like she did when—well, she bared her teeth a lot, with subtle differences—this was her in-pain-but-determined grimace. "No," Rey ground out, taking a few careful breaths. "No, we—we’re close. We came this far."

Finn put one hand over Poe's, where it gripped his jacket, and one on the back of Rey's neck, still taking deep, calming breaths. "You said everything would be fine," he said to Poe, worry giving his voice an annoyed edge. "What happened?" Finn couldn't feel anything, except for maybe a vague sort of pressure like a headache trying to happen but not quite managing it. "Are you both okay? Do you need anything, Rey?"

"Everything is fine," Poe insisted, though he was concerned about Rey.

As if in support of Poe’s claim, Rey waved them both off. "Yeah it's—the Force is strong here. _Heavy_ , almost. Too much." She grimaced again and then sat up, surprising them both. "Isn't it kind of quiet in here?"

Poe glanced back at the console. Every light was off. He stood up in a panic. Had he broken the _Millennium Falcon_?! It was dark but for the light that came in through the cockpit, and he bent down to check a few panels. Everything seemed fine. Except there was another sound that was—missing—

"BB-8," Poe gasped, paling as he ran down to where his droid was—lifeless. "No no no! Hey buddy come on, come on, wake up for me," Poe said, dropping to his knees and hitting the droid a few times.

Nothing.

Hands shaking, Poe opened a few panels, but everything seemed all right, just like the _Falcon_. It was like his friend just didn't have any power. Or had been shut off.

Okay, this planet was officially freaky.

"Bee?" Finn asked, stroking the little droid's domed head. "They're okay, right?" he asked Poe anxiously, just as Rey caught up with them

"Something—in the Force, maybe?—shut off all of our electronic systems. I just checked," Rey said.

“Like an EMP? A magic E—”

“Poe, it’s not _magic_ , I told you!”

Finn cursed. "So now we're _stuck here_ until we either figure something out or someone shows up to rescue us? Did you know the planet could do this, either of you?" he demanded indignantly, stomping back toward where the medkits were packed. He wasn't letting those out of his sight, not if they really were stuck here until rescue showed up.

"No!" Poe protested. "No, this is stupid, that's not how the Force works, it can't be!" He hit BB-8 in frustration and then rubbed their side and took a careful breath. "Okay. We've got—back up generators. We can haul them out to get the solar radiation..."

"Poe, that won't work," Rey said, and stood up. "It’s the Force, not an issue of power. I just need some time to concentrate and I can clear what's wrong with the ship, and with BB-8, but I can't do that while we still need to go look for the kyber crystals."

Poe growled, looking up at Finn, who was carrying medkits. "Finn, darling, we're fine, no one needs—" But one look at Finn's face told him to shut up, and Kes Dameron didn't raise an idiot. "Okay." Poe scrubbed a hand over his face. "Okay, let's suit up and go get the crystals. Then we come back and focus on the ship."

"We're taking these with us," Finn said, setting down the medkits. He'd also retrieved his own suit, but hadn't had enough hands to grab the other two on top of what he already had. He pulled his on while Rey went and got her and Poe's suits.

There were precious few things Poe hated more than wearing body armor, and one of those was wearing pressure suits. Especially when they were going to be walking around a perfectly breathable, habitable planet. It made him feel like he was bringing a blaster to a rock paper scissors game. But Poe also hated Finn's worry-fueled wrath and he _really_ hated sleeping on the proverbial couch (he tried thinking about he and Finn ever actually having a fight that huge, and laughed at the absurdity), so since Finn was already annoyed that the smooth mission he and Rey had promised him wasn't going smoothly, Poe dressed without a complaint.

"Can you tell how close they are?" Finn asked Rey as he packed their bags.

"They're about three clicks that way," Rey said, her voice muffled through the suit until Poe reached over and switched on her radio. "Or closer, if they're stronger than I guess. Well, that direction, technically," she said, pointing down. "There's supposed to be a large cavern."

Poe nodded, gearing up with blaster, vibroknife, med kit, rations. "Great. We've got five hours of daylight left so we should be able to take care of this no problem—depending on terrain." He hoped his smile would put Finn more at ease, and that the qualifying clause would keep him out of further trouble.

"It's like you're daring something to be a problem," Finn said tiredly, still not happy with the situation but well aware that he had no choice but to tolerate it.  He dragged both Rey and Poe close to him, hugging them tightly and mumbling, " _Be careful,_ " at them before letting them go and nodding to Rey. "Lead the way," he said, hoisting his own pack and taking a good look around at the apparently deserted planet. He hoped it would stay that way.

Poe pressed a kiss to Finn's cheek before closing the visor on his helmet. "I know right? Kinda asking for it. Like saying 'I've got a bad feeling about this,'" he said, and winked. "But come on, what's a little danger when we've got Rey with us?"

Rey rolled her eyes at him, perhaps thinking he was teasing. He was not. "Look, I don't sense anything but the kyber crystals. Let's go."

Poe chuckled. "You’re beautiful when you’re angry—"

" _Poe_. Not in the mood," she growled, and he winced. Okay, maybe these Force headaches were worse than he thought. He followed quietly, with Finn taking rearguard. (Poe had a funny joke for that, too, but apparently he wasn’t allowed to have a sense of humor on this trip.)

…

The planet was, objectively, beautiful. Everything was bright colors and weird shadows. But it made odd noises. Sometimes they heard things like birdsong or something moving through the tall grass, but other times it was eerily silent. Poe had his blaster holstered, though Rey walked with her staff and Finn kept his blaster out, safety on. Poe couldn't help but notice as they proceeded that things began to get...swampy. And then...lakey. Which didn't bode well if they had to continue going down. Their suits could handle swimming, but Poe wasn't sure Rey or Finn wanted to do any swimming.

Which meant, when they got to some rocky outcropping that might have been a cave mouth, and Rey stopped, pacing in water up to her knees for a few minutes in silence, Poe finally sighed and said:

"Okay, what color do you want?"

"Poe, not now—wait, what?"

"I assume they're under water or something? What color do you want? Green or blue? I can go get them for you."

"They'll all look the same to you," Rey said, still pacing, but paused as she realized what Poe was offering. "Thank you, but I have to go get one myself," she added. Luke had said something about the crystals picking the Jedi, which seemed unlikely to Rey, but given the way she could sense them just out of reach beneath the water, it was possible the concept wasn't entirely far-fetched.

Poe chewed his lip, considering. "Well, worth a try," he said with a shrug.

Rey stared dubiously at the water. "But you’ll come with me? Otherwise I'm pretty sure I will drown," she said, turning to look at Poe and Finn.

"Yes, and I’ll do you one better," he said, and turned his back to Finn. "Can you get the rope out of my bag? Thanks," he said, once it was out, and unwinding it, slinging his pack off and unbuckling his blaster belt to give to Finn. "We'll tie a rope around us—around Rey, maybe—and then Finn can pull us up if we get into trouble. Do you know—can you tell how far they are? Is it just—straight down? Do we need to find an opening?"

"I can't tell... It might just go straight down," Rey answered, venturing a bit further into the water.  She turned back to Finn, "You're okay staying here?" she asked, the 'alone' implicit but unsaid. Finn nodded.

"Yeah, but if I tug twice, you have to answer, or I'm pulling you back." he looked at Poe, concerned that he wouldn't be tied. "Promise me you'll hold on to Rey or the rope, please?" he asked.

"Finn, Finno, sweetheart," Poe said, cupping the side of Finn's face (which was actually the side of the stupid helmet and wasn't romantic at all). "Stop giving me the I've-got-a-bad-feeling-about-this look, _please_. We're just going to crawl around in some dark water to a creepy cave that may not have a way out…"

Finn glared at him.

"I'm _kidding_ , look, here, are you seeing this?" he said, looping one end of the rope through a loop at the back of his suit and knotting it. "There, better?"

"We're going to be fine, Finn. We may not even go all the way under water. It's not far." She smiled and squeezed his hand, then affixing a light to her helmet. “And you'll hear us on our coms."

"If the communicators go dead for any reason, we'll tug three times if we're okay. Twice is you pull us up." Poe said. He smiled warmly at Finn and then started wading after Rey.

It was fine for a bit, up to his chest, though presently they did have to swim: "Come on," he said, rather quickly, pulling Rey's arms around him. "Hold onto me. Tell me where to go." It was really dark, and they couldn't see far in the water, even with their headlamps on.

"It's just...ahead."

Poe nodded, swimming strong and quickly forward. "You okay?"

"Yeah, it's— _heavy_ , again, here. There's...a lot going on."

"Okay. I've got you. And Finn's got both of us."

"Through there," Rey pointed, and Poe stopped.

"Through the...tiny, scary, dark opening? Of _course_."

Finn snorted, comforted by being able to hear Poe and Rey, even if he couldn't see them. "Be careful, you two," he told them, just so they wouldn't be disappointed.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh, Finn... I wish you could see this," Rey whispered across the comlink, and Finn smiled. "There are so many..."

"Tell me about it?" Finn asked, and sat to listen as Rey described a cave full of crystals, some as small as her fingernails and some larger than she was tall. "What color are they?" Finn asked, and she laughed.

"They don't have colors, remember? That's why I have to find mine," Rey answered, which only made a little sense to Finn. Rey sounded...off. Like she wasn't fully focused.

"Hey, Poe, you both okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're—wow," Poe said. They didn't need their lights anymore, as the cave was full of crystals which gave off a faint white light. "It's—bright in here. Pretty. Like getting lost in your eyes, gorgeous," he told Finn.

"There's an air pocket here—I need to go further," Rey said as they waded up onto a small beach. "Poe, can you untie me? Just for a second," she added hastily, for Finn.

"Yeah, hang on," Poe said, but his stupid helmet had fogged, and he opened it, hoping Finn wouldn't hear the sound as he fiddled with the rope, releasing her. "Don't go far?" he said, still tethered.

Rey nodded, unzipping her right glove. Maybe she needed to touch them to be sure? Poe thought, and didn't say anything. "Ugh, I think I've got a suit malfunction, there's water in my helmet," Poe said, pulling the helmet off entirely to check for an obvious crack or leak.

Rey walked several steps and then looked around, swinging back and forth and trying to locate her crystal. There were so many, and they all called to her in different ways— "I don't know which one it is," she said. "Finn, there're too many, I can't find mine," she told him, voice a bit frantic.

"Shhhh, hey, listen. Rey, close your eyes. Stop looking for it. You said it'd call you, right?" He waited for an affirmative answer and then continued. "Just listen. You know how to do that. You've got this," he told her, intentionally slowing his words and dropping his voice.

"Oh. It's more than one," she said suddenly, "Thank you Finn."  There was relative quiet for several minutes before he heard an intake of breath. "I found them. These are mine. Poe, I found them!" Rey called over to him in her excitement, reaching for her little cluster of crystals with her right hand.

Poe smiled at her happy little dance, and felt something wet slap against the back of his neck, and at first he turned, worried that something was moving in the water, half-expecting tentacles again, another Maker-damned scum-squid—

And then he wished it _were_ tentacles, as he was now facing not one, not two, but three of the frilled Mortis lizards. "Fuck," he said, wondering if he should look away, move away, protect his eyes, he couldn't fly if they got him in the eyes. Also the back of his neck already burned and " _Rey we have to go now_!" he said, throwing his helmet back on. Malfunctioning or not, it had to do.

“Poe?!” Finn screamed. “What’s going on?”

"Do _not_ pull us back yet, Finn, I do _not_ have Rey, repeat, I do not have—"

He looked up when she screamed: Rey was clutching her crystals, but she was clutching her fist with her other hand, and the venom was black on her hand. More lizards. Oh, Force, there were—a lot of them.

They looked hungry.

"Finn, get ready to pull us out fast," Poe said, as Rey fell into his arms, baring her teeth. He had no idea where her glove was, and already her skin looked burned. "Shit. Give me those. Give me the crystals, Rey. Rey you can't hold them, your hand... I promise I'll—" Poe snatched them up and put them in the zipper pocket on her chest. "I need you to hold your breath, don't panic, and hold onto me, okay?"

Rey nodded, looking almost eager to go into the water, if it meant getting away from the frilled lizards. "We didn't even scare them," she said bitterly.

"Finn, we got company. Pull us back now!" Poe was already diving as the rope yanked them down hard.

As soon as Poe told him to pull, Finn set his heels into the ground and yanked on the rope, throwing his whole body into it.  He picked up the slack and did it again, this time wrapping the rope behind him so he could pull back with his legs as well. "I almost have you," he said, gathering the rope one more time and pulling until he saw Poe's head break through the water. Rey was clinging to him, and Finn threw himself into the water and toward them.

Poe ripped off Rey's helmet and then his own, since they were hardly any use to them now. Rey was coughing, though they hadn't been under water for long. "Remind me to thank you when this is over," Poe said, desperately grateful, and was about to compliment Finn's strength when he remembered the back of his neck stung, and he winced and ducked under the water. "Shit. Finn—stay back! We don't know how concentrated this shit is. Wash your hand, Rey—damn it," he groaned, as her scrubbing made her hand come away instantly bloody. There was blood on the back of his neck, too. "Eugh. Okay. Let's—we need to get out of the water. How you feeling?"

"Fine," she grumbled, collapsing into Finn's arms as they met somewhere in the middle. "The frilled lizards, Finn. There were eggs, I think, I didn't—we didn't know until—"

Poe hovered a few steps back, beginning to see spots, like he'd stood up too fast. _Do not pass out in the water, do not pass out in the water_ , he told himself, and then pressed forward. "They got us both. But we got her crystals. We need—to get—back to the ship." He dropped to his knees in the sand. He wasn't bleeding that much, was he?

Rey shivered, wincing at her bloody hand. "I'm sorry, Finn, I'm sorry," she said, because her friend's face looked so worried it bordered on angry.

"It's okay, it's alright," Finn told her, yanking off his own helmet and gloves so he could rest a hand on the back of her neck. He avoided touching Poe's neck, but put a hand on his wrist and took a deep breath. "Can either of you stand? We should get away from the water, find something to put our backs against—if you can't make it back to the ship," he said evenly, petting Rey's hair and rubbing his hand up and down Poe's arm.

"Yeah. Yeah," Poe said, and Rey could probably lose a leg and still run, that girl was tough. There was splashing behind him, and panic fueled him to his feet as a swarm of heads popped up from the water. "Holy kriffing shit," he said, going for a blaster. "Yeah, we need to—go," he said, grabbing his pack with his other hand.

The lizards didn't attack, of course. They were just following them.

Waiting until one of them dropped dead, probably.

Rey took her staff with her left hand. "Finn, I don't think we'll make it to the ship," she said. Already her limbs felt heavy and uncoordinated. "Did we ask what this venom does?"

Poe laughed bitterly. "Hallucinations, he said? Fever? Please tell me I'm just seeing things and we don't actually have an army of lizards following us, that would be super." He clung to Finn's other arm for stability and guidance, since the world was kind of swimming.

"I'll deal with the lizards," Finn said, taking aim and firing into the middle of them with his blaster. They hissed and disappeared back under the water, though only for a moment, before they began to feed on the one that had been shot. At least now the little bastards knew he could fight back. "Let's go, there was a sheltered spot back this way." He'd noticed it on the way in.

"I'm—I can't," Rey stated, giving him a helpless look as she stood there swaying. When she tried to follow the two steps he'd taken, she got so off balance she nearly fell.

"Use your staff. Rey, use your staff to balance," Finn said, and she finally managed to do so. They made their awkward, excruciatingly slow way to the sheltered lee of a large rock that leaned at such an extreme angle it almost formed a lean-to. When he stopped walking, Rey dropped, pushing back to the rock and leaning miserably. "I'll be right back, okay? Don't try to go anywhere," he told both Rey and Poe.

"Wait, Finn—" Poe said, but Finn knew what he was doing, and he was already going cross-eyed, and this was bad.

Finn went around the other side of the rock, picking off three lizards that had decided to follow them. He snarled at them, baring his teeth in an expression he'd picked up from Rey, and then went back to Rey and Poe, dropping between them and pulling them close for a moment just to reassure all of them that they were in one piece.

"Finn," Poe said urgently, when Finn returned, "we can carry her. We have to keep—aah!" he cried, throwing his pack, which was full of frilled lizards and snakes and he drew back against Rey, as if to protect her or as though she would protect him. "Finn! Kriffing snakes in my kriffing bag!"

There was a tense moment when Finn didn't do anything.

Neither did his bag. It just lay there, supplies strewn over the ground.

Poe swallowed. "There weren't any snakes in my bag." He rubbed his eyes. "Okay. Don't trust anything I see. I’m just hallucinating, no problem." He hugged his legs to his chest, feeling a wave of blood go down his back as he rested his face between his knees. “Damn it.”

"Poe! You're bleeding!" Rey cried.

"Yeah, so are you. Or we might both be imagining it," Poe moaned from between his knees.

They both already sounded miserable, and it made Finn's heart hurt. He dug through the contents of the medkit that had been partially strewn across the ground for a soft bandage and touched Poe's shoulder. "Gonna clean up your neck, okay?" then he turned to Rey, holding out another bandage. "Then your hand. Hold this on it until I can help?" he said, and she nodded. Luckily, there were ample supplies for cleaning wounds, including some sort of spray-on antiseptic that was supposed to numb injuries. Finn used this first, then cleaned up the blood that had trickled down Poe's neck and onto his shirt as best he could and used another bandage—it was one of the ones with bacta gel on it—to cover the wound. He gave Poe a kiss on the shoulder and dug around in his own pack for a small blanket, which he handed to him before moving over to give Rey's hand the same treatment. "We have water and some food, if either of you think you can keep it down," he said, since Rey had been complaining somewhat incoherently about being dizzy. "And emergency blankets if those aren't enough." They probably wouldn't be, once the fevers kicked in. He ground his teeth—if any of the lizards got near them thinking Rey and Poe were vulnerable, they were going to wish they hadn't.

Poe gave a grateful grunt to Finn as he cleaned his neck, and then watched him gently take care of Rey's hand. It was kind of painful how sweet and gentle Finn was, or, okay, maybe he should stop grinding his teeth. "Did it mess up my tattoo?" He wondered, belatedly, once Finn was up and offering them water and blankets. "Sorry. I swear I'm not that high, yet." He coughed and uncurled himself, stripping out of the wet pressure suit and accepting a blanket. "I’m fine." Except his hands were shaking as he helped Rey out of her suit and under a blanket. Her hair was sodden. He had a sudden overwhelming desire to brush it until she fell asleep.

"Too warm," he said suddenly, kicking the blanket off, and with it his boots. He wanted to sleep _on_ the blanket, he explained in a mumble, sounding like a drunk four-year-old.

"Are you joking? It's freezing," Rey said, lurching down on his blanket in the little spoon position. She was shaking almost as bad as he was.

"Okay. Okay. Gonna sleep this off," he told Finn. He couldn't hallucinate if they were asleep, right? That was called dreaming.

That made sense.

"Finn?" Poe whimpered softly, reaching for Finn's hand. "Don't go anywhere, k?"

"I'm not going anywhere, I'll be right here, I promise," Finn said as he curled on Rey's other side, wide awake and listening for the slightest noise. The hand that Poe was currently holding was resting on Rey's waist, and he gently pulled her injured hand to rest on his waist, so it wouldn't get bumped or rolled on. She was still shivering, but when he inched closer, she burrowed against his chest, burying her face.

"I'm _freezing_ ," she whimpered, and he tucked her more securely under his chin. "Wasn’t... S'posed t'happen," she mumbled. “I’m sorry, Finn. I got us into this mess."

Finn frowned and stroked her hair. "Shhh, it's fine. Not your fault that there were lizards. I'm not mad—I’m not even annoyed, except at the lizards. So annoyed I’m going to shoot any that get close, got it? Go to sleep, okay, sweetheart?" He raised his head enough to look at Poe and smiled softly. "You too, love. I'll be right here."

"Don't lie. You're totally mad," Poe teased, rolling slightly away because he was _boiling_ , and he staggered into a sitting position to drain an entire canteen of water at once. It didn't help, and when he laid down he still felt like he could feel the planet spinning and he was floating.

When he opened his eyes some time later, he _was_ floating.

"Whoa—okay—am I—?" Was he hallucinating? Poe covered his face with his hands, trying to rub the vision away, but Finn looked a little alarmed, too, so maybe this wasn't a hallucination?

“Rey!” Finn cried as they rose into the air.

"Oh fuck!" Rey cried when she opened her eyes, and when she sat up the whole camp—well, the three of them and their blanket and packs—dropped the three feet she had lifted them all—using the Force—without meaning to! Rey curled in on herself again and sobbed.

Once he was safely on the ground with nothing but a bruise to show for it, Poe tried to laugh it off, touching her arm. "Hey, it’s okay. I thought Jedi training was about lifting rocks, not boyfriends," he teased, and she glared at him.

"I didn't mean for that to happen! Finn! Help! It's too much!" she cried, gritting her teeth and covering her face.

Poe did notice that the air around them was humming. It didn't make him nervous, exactly, but it was kind of oppressive, and it reminded him of things he tried not to think about that started with Ky- and ended with -lo Ren.

"Rey, listen to me. Okay? No harm done," he said, sitting up in front of her and putting his hands on her shoulders. She was shivering, and he couldn't tell if it was from pain or from the strain of trying to hold herself together while being overwhelmed by something in the Force. "Here, come here," he said, pulling her closer, and she scrambled until she was in his lap and curled in as tiny a ball as he thought she could probably manage. "Can you focus on my voice? Either of you?" he asked, reaching one hand out for Poe while he wrapped his arm around Rey and held her. It was a pity he couldn't hold them both at the same time.

Rey shuddered but opened her eyes. Finn's warm brown eyes, full of concern, grounded her, and she nodded, keeping her eyes on his.

Poe grunted, taking Finn's hand and gripping it tightly. Poe felt—on edge, like he was mildly in pain, not enough to complain but neither could he do anything about it, and he just had to endure. He was still too warm and just wanted to sleep.

_Attack. Above._

Rey recognized the warning from the Force, though it slammed into her at light speed, and she grabbed a blaster to fire above her head, where lizards were coming at them from over the top of the rock. "Finn!" she cried belatedly.

Poe opened his eyes at this, but now it looked to him like they were all _inside_ the mouth of a frilled lizard, so he gave up and shut his eyes again, curling up and trying not to look like the obvious target he was. He was a pilot. He wasn’t made for ground operations. Things always went wrong. It would be just his luck to think Finn or Rey looked like a frilled lizard and shoot one of them on accident.

While Finn and Rey both fired at the lizards that were attacking from above, another larger one went after Poe from the ground, slinking around the edge of the rock and hissing at him where he lay prone. Finn noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye and jumped closer, frightening it into pausing as he shot at another lizard that was scaling at the rock. When it didn't immediately retreat, Finn darted closer, but it lunged for Poe's foot, grabbing his pant leg and dragging him several meters as he cried out and flailed. Finn made a wordless sound of rage and shot it, but was distracted while pulling Poe back to safety by a panicked scream from Rey. When he turned, it was to see that one of the lizards had its jaws around Rey's arm and was biting down, while she tried to beat it off with her blaster.

Poe thrashed wildly, not sure whether he was actually fighting a frilled lizard or a duck at this point, but then Finn's arms were around him (Maker, he _hoped_ these were Finn's arms) and he clung to him. Then he was dumped down unceremoniously, and Rey’s screaming made him sit up to see two of the monsters had leapt on her, biting her, and Finn sprinted back to help.

"ENOUGH!" Rey cried, her voice low and suddenly loud, and the wave of lizards was pushed back like they were hit with an invisible wall traveling at 90 klicks a second. Finn dislodged one lizard from her with a punt, and the other with a point-blank shot.

Poe crawled closer to them. Whatever else happened, he wanted to be huddled somewhere near the protective ex-stormtrooper and the pissed off Jedi.

Rey gasped. That had felt _good_ , actually, using that massive Force-push, like it bled off some of the oppressive power pressing down on her brain, and anyway they seemed to be safe for now. The pain in her arm registered belatedly. "Sorry," she told Finn, staring down at her arm in some confusion because her blood was...green. "I think my hallucinations are starting again," she said, trying to remain calm.

"That's alright. _I'm_ real, I'll keep being real, and I can tell you what isn't," Finn said, looking around for more lizards, sure they were merely hiding someplace. When he didn't see any, he got out more bandages and tended to Rey's arm, red with blood, then helped her back over near Poe. "Did they get you?" he asked, sitting uneasily at their feet and gripping his blaster one-handed. With the other, he brushed the back of his hand against first Poe's cheek, then Rey's, grimacing when they felt warmer than usual.

Poe shook his head, though his feet might have been boats for all he knew. Finn's fingers felt good though, and he gave a soft moan. "Mokay," he mumbled. "Th-thirsty?"

Rey curled close to Finn's chest, still shivering. "I don't think they'll be back for a while." She ground her teeth. "You could take Poe back to the ship and come back for me," she suggested.

Poe shook his head until he was dizzy. "No wait that's not fair. You can't."

"I'm not leaving you—either of you," Finn said, shifting so Rey could curl up against him and he could still pull Poe close to one hip. He brushed sweaty strands of hair off Poe's forehead and combed his fingers through his curly hair. "We'll stay here ‘til it wears off and you two can walk, it'll be okay," he told both of them.

Rey made a face, but then she started turning colors so Poe closed his eyes, trying to focus on Finn's hands in his hair. "We have a shelter," he managed through the fog. It was a one-man tent, but they were used to close quarters. "In the bag." He sat up. "Thirsty," he said again.

"I think we need to be careful about how much water we're drinking, unless we have a way to get more in one of the packs..." Finn said hesitantly, not wanting to deny either Poe or Rey anything, but aware that Poe had already drank one entire canteen of water. They'd brought extra, of course, but there was no telling how long they'd be stuck here. "How about if I set up the tent and then we all sit down and eat and drink something?" he asked.

Poe nodded, lying back down. He wanted Finn's hands in his hair again but Poe certainly wasn't going to get the shelter set up, so maybe he shouldn't bother Finn. His body was on fire, and he just wanted to be cool, and for his head to stop showing him strange things like Rey with whisperbird wings.

He closed his eyes. "Gonna try to sleep," Poe said.

Feeling more alert, Rey looked at the tent pack: "I think this is the kind that does the work for you," she said. "I think you set it out and pull this flap." She shivered again. "Maybe it'll be warm in there. I think I'll stay awake," she added as a non sequitur. If she tried to relax, she might force-lift them 10 meters up next time before noticing.

Finn took the tent a short distance away, set the long side so it was along the protective face of the rock, and pulled the flap Rey had told him to pull. It unfolded into the smallest space that Finn had ever thought about fitting two or three people into. Then again, they regularly curled up so close in bed that they only use about a third of it, so...hopefully at least Rey and Poe could fit without too much accidental elbowing and knee-ing. He put the blanket that had been on the ground in the tent and returned to Rey and Poe. "Tent's up," he said softly, since Poe was asleep and Rey was staring at nothing with a glazed look on her face. She shuddered and blinked at him.

"What was that?" she asked, glancing off next to him and tensing. Finn turned to check that there weren't more lizards, and then turned back to Rey.

"The tent. It's up, if either of you want to be in it. In fact, I would prefer if you were both in it. What do you see?" Finn said, and Rey shook her head before standing and shuffling over to the tent.

"Poe? Want to go sleep in the tent?" Finn asked, crouching next to Poe and carding his fingers through his hair again.

Poe nodded and let himself be guided in to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your well-wishes for ASingerOfSongs! She defended successfully! Now back to your regularly scheduled Poe and Rey whump...


	5. Chapter 5

Poe slept, hard and long.

(And, yes, that’s what she said.)

Leave it to Poe Dameron to be having fever-induced, hallucinatory, wet dreams.

They were fine at first—even great—if a little weird. In one of them, Finn was blowing him, crouched between his legs, but when Poe lifted his head to look down, and Finn looked up at him, he was wearing his Stormtrooper mask. And the only thing Poe could say to that was “How did you get your mouth around me with that on?” like that was the _only_ weird thing about the scenario.

And then in the next dream Poe was doing the do with Finn and Rey together (but wasn’t that impossible? Rey wasn't into sex?), and that was going great (he was fucking Finn and eating out Rey at the same time and oh stars and skies yes please let this dream go on) until in the middle of it Rey pulled him up by his hair and frowned at him and said: “Poe, think of the baby.”

Even knowing he was still probably hallucination-dreaming, Poe couldn’t help the gasp of impossibly elated, happy adrenaline, and he looked down—but Rey’s belly was flat and hard (holy kriff she had an eight-pack, too??).

 _Poe’s_ belly was swollen. Oh, gods, he was having pregnant dreams.

“Son of a bitch,” Poe said.

“Don’t say that about our baby,” Finn scolded him, because even his dreams had to have punchlines.

"Poe?"

Poe blinked awake, and he had never been so glad to see Finn looking so worried, because that meant he was back out on the rocks and everything looked—mostly normal. Poe patted his stomach: nope, not pregnant (wow, he was irrationally worried about this).

"I was having some really fucked up dreams," he said, and giggled, and then groaned as Finn pulled him into a sitting position to check on him. "Like—weird," he explained as Finn, satisfied, made him lie back down. "I was going to have our baby," he said, gripping Finn's arm urgently. He wasn't sure whether he was more grateful or more disappointed that was just a dream.

"Not that my education was what you would call 'complete,’ but I'm fairly positive that isn't possible," Finn said reasonably, helping Poe settle into the tent and then sitting just outside the tent flap and looking in. "Do you still want food? Or some water?" he asked both of them.

Poe nodded. "Water," he said. "Should probably eat, too. How long was I out?"

“Twelve hours.” Rey sat with her knees curled up, hugging her injured arm and hand.

Poe moaned. Maybe the venom would wear off soon, then? He nodded at Rey’s arm. “Feeling any better?”

She shook her head.

"Guess you get to practice with your new lightsaber left-handed," he told her, and she shook her head again.

"It's going to be a double-blade. Need both hands," she said, shrugging.

"Finn, are you okay?" Poe said, as Finn sat at the mouth of the tent, shoulders tense.

“He’s been there the whole time,” Rey pointed out in a whisper.

"I'm fine, loves, don't worry," Finn said, "I'll be right back." He had brought their bags closer, setting them along the side of the tent not already protected by the rock. He rummaged inside and handed some water and protein bars into the tent and smiled at Poe and Rey as they took them. "How are you feeling?"

Rey had to force herself to eat, and Poe had to force himself not to drink all the water and eat both bars. But after they settled, exhausted by the simple act of eating, both of them felt better. Since Rey was still cold and Poe was boiling, he tried curling around her, but the instant he was asleep he rolled away, fussing as sweat poured down his face and neck.

When she couldn’t fight exhaustion anymore: "Finn," Rey said urgently, turning around so her head was near where Finn sat, and she could hold his hand. "You have to wake me if I do anything—but I'm so tired. So. Tired," she moaned, and the next thing she knew she had closed her eyes.

For the first six hours, her sleep was fantastic.

_Rey giggled as lightning crackled over her fingertips._

_It tickled, and she liked to watch it. Poe and Finn were here with her, good. Love—adoration—no,_ zeal _—was evident in their eyes as they looked at her: Poe looking back at her from the pilot’s chair, an effortless smile, and Finn standing at her side, dark and handsome._

_“We’ll find your family, Rey,” Finn was telling her. He touched her arm, taking her hand, and when she looked down at where their hands met, she was startled to find herself wearing dark robes._

_Since when did she start dressing like Kylo Ren? Was this Poe’s idea? Poe, who thought he knew so much about fashion—_

_Was now standing up and instead of his lovely green Resistance uniform, he was wearing black, the First Order mark on his shoulder._

_“Poe!” she gasped, dropping Finn's hand and backing away from him, and something flickered in Poe’s eyes, like he didn’t know what he was doing there wearing this, either, but it was brief and then his eyes glowed blue and he smiled easily again._

_“Come on, Rey,” Finn said, and he was wearing chrome Stormtrooper armor, his helmet tucked under his arm where it was marked—painted—red. “You want to find your family, don’t you?”_

_“What—no—stop kidding around, guys. What are we doing here?” Realization dawned. “Where’s Kylo Ren,” she demanded. He must be at fault for this. He was controlling them, somehow, trying to get to her—_

_Finn raised a hand placatingly. “Rey, it’s all right,” he smiled, and there was blue in his eyes, blue like the color of Luke’s lightsaber, blue like—_

_Blue like the force lightning at her fingertips._

_She snapped her fingers, and both Finn and Poe snapped to attention, like toy soldiers, their pupils drowning in blue._ She _was—controlling them?_

_“You killed him, Rey, don’t you remember?” Finn said, shoulders back, even though he was smiling easily—too easily. “You killed Kylo Ren.”_

_She activated her lightsaber. It sprung from her hand, red and crackling, as unstable as the lightning in her palms._

_“You want to find your family, don’t you?” Poe added with a smile, a smile that now looked fake and plastic, and he pointed out the cockpit to what looked like the destroyed remains of a whole star system. “This is how we find them.”_

_No! No! This didn’t make any sense!_

_“Don’t worry, Rey,” Finn said, taking her hands. “We’ll never leave you. Never.”_

_“Never,” Poe echoed._

_She was dreaming—hallucinating—she had to be! She would_ never _—_

_She had to fight it! Finn!_

_The lizards! The venom. This was a fever. This was a dream. This wasn’t real._

_This was the Force. But it wasn’t good. She didn’t like it._

“FINN!”

When Rey shouted his name—along with some other weird stuff Finn tried to pretend he didn’t understand—Finn started and whirled toward the tent, blaster in his hand, looking for whatever was attacking them. He hadn't slept—hadn’t even napped—he had definitely lost track of the hours, perhaps days at this point—and he was wound so tight he nearly shot before looking. But there were no lizards, nothing, only Rey sitting up inside the tent. "Rey?  What is it?" he asked, his eyes seeking the lantern-lit darkness until he found Rey's eyes. She looked terrified, and he reached a hand toward her. "Hey, sunshine, everything's okay. Everything's quiet out here. We're still on Mortis, and I'm fairly positive Kylo Ren has no idea where we are and is nowhere nearby," he reassured her.

Rey looked around, shivering. _No, you don’t understand_ , she wanted to say. _Kylo Ren’s not the threat, I am._

But they were—well, not safe, they were still camping out in a hostile planet—but she wasn't a _sith_. She looked down at her hands to make sure. One was still bandaged. Finn was holding her other hand. Poe still slept, if restlessly.

Heart still thumping in her chest, she crawled out of the tent and into Finn's lap to throw an arm around his shoulders and bury her face against his neck. "I dreamed I couldn't control it. The Force. Or—I was controlling it too much. That I—I was doing horrible things," she said. "That I had to do awful things to stop him. To you. A means to an end. I dreamed I was—” she gulped nervously, “ _controlling_ you. But I would never—"

“I know, shh,” Finn said, arms going around her.

"Can I stay out here with you?"

"Yes, of course. As long as you want," Finn said, arranging Rey in his lap so her injured hand rested safely near his chest and he could hold her bundled as close as possible. "You won't do awful things," he told her, watching the darkness beyond them and listening to Poe sleep uneasily behind them.

"The stars here are weird," he said, looking up through the oddly lit sky and running his hand up and down Rey's arm.

Rey settled, then, comforted by Finn's presence and his nurturing kindness. She felt safe in his arms, and she didn't feel safe in many places, much less safe with many people. But Finn was—different. She could even trust herself around him. He wouldn't leave her. He had come back for her.

That she would have to use the Force to _make_ him stay with her was ridiculous.

She slept.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains canon-typical torture as well as elements of dub-con. If you think that might be triggering, see the notes at the end of this chapter for a more detailed spoilery warning.

In the tent, Poe tossed and turned for hours more, restless and fevered. He was trying to ignore the feeling like lizards and snakes crawling all over him, and just sleep. He was so tired...

_Suddenly Poe  was  feeling  blissfully  warm  and  relaxed,  like  he  did  when  Finn  was  holding  him  at  night. Was it over? Were they safe back on base in bed? He did feel arms around him..._

_When Poe opened his eyes to a kiss, however, he started to find Kylo Ren’s mask staring back at him.  It  jolted  fear  through  him  like  a  punch  in  the  balls,  even  though  he  was  confused  why  he had  felt_ lips _if  the  bastard  was  wearing  a_ mask _.  This  wasn’t  sexy.  And  he  knew  it  was  a hallucination,  it  had  to  be,  but  it  still  made  him  shudder,  especially  as  the  mask  went  in  for another kiss. This time it felt cold, hard, like metal._

 _“You’re disgusting,” Poe ground out, trying to turn his head. His temple ached and his wrists and ankles hurt. He was back in that interrogation chair on the_ Finalizer _, but this time he was entirely naked. “And here I thought I was the kinky one.”_

_“You left me.”_

_“Of  course  I  left  you,  you  sick  fuck.  Second  date  is  dinner and  a  holovid,  not  torture  and interrogation!”_

Finn was afraid to move too much, because that would wake Rey up, and she had only just quit shivering and clinging to him like he was her lifeline. But Poe went from grumbling something nonspecific like he usually did when he talked in his sleep to suddenly talking about _torture_ , and it made Finn want to hunt Kylo Ren down. Right now.

He did…wonder at the other things Poe was saying, and he didn't want to believe Poe was saying what it seemed like he was. It made him lightheaded he was so angry, and the only thing that kept him from taking his anger out on the rock behind the tent was the fact that he was still holding Rey, and she was still blissfully unaware of what was going on.

"Poe. Buddy, Poe, you have to wake up, come on," he said, aching to bundle Rey back into the tent where he could gather both of them to him and _never_ let anyone hurt them _again_. But he couldn't, because there was a very real chance that the lizards were waiting for that kind of a slip-up, for all three of them to be distracted or incapacitated, before attacking again. He couldn't risk it. " _Please_ Poe, it's a nightmare. He's not here. Come on, love, wake up for me. Snap _out_ of it, Poe!" he said, growing increasingly frantic about his inability to care for both friends at the same time.

 _“No—” and here Kylo Ren took off the mask, and looked like Ben, the last time Poe had seen his face, still a gawky teenager, tall and thin and beautiful (but always weird, always_ off _, like he had read a book on How to People written by a space slug). “I mean you left_ me _. You love Finn now.”_

_Suddenly there was pain—Force-pain or physical pain, it didn’t matter—and Poe screamed, the restraints holding him in place._

_“Of course I love Finn, you kriffing psycho! He’s better than you, he’s better than both of us. He saved me and saved Rey and saved the Resistance! Don’t—arghh!—don’t ask me about Finn!”_

_“If I kill him, you’ll have to love me.”_

_“Don’t you fucking dare,” Poe gasped. “You—you are so kiffing messed up in the head, you know that? You whiny fuckboy piece of shit! I thought you only killed innocent villagers and defenseless planets. Not your golden boy ex-troopers. You’re bluffing. You are kriffing bluff—” but he was cut off by a hiss of pain._

Rey jerked awake at the scream, grasping at Finn's shirt. "Finn?" she mumbled. "Wh-what's—Poe? What's wrong with—Poe!" she called, but her friend was thrashing about the small tent and screaming and beyond hearing either of them. "Finn, he's going to hurt himself—" she said, setting her jaw as she made to crawl back inside.

"Wait, I don't want you getting hurt worse," Finn said, and though Rey looked ready to argue, she paused. "Stay here. Please?" And that seemed to be the magic word: Rey sat back on her heels and sighed tiredly. Finn kissed her on the forehead as he squeezed past her to get into the tent, dodging Poe's flailing limbs. "Poe. Poe, stop before you hurt yourself," he said, but Poe didn't seem to hear him. "You're _scaring_ me, buddy, _please_ wake up. Come back," he said, reaching out to put a hand on Poe's shoulder.

_“Bluffing about killing a traitor?” Ben—no, Kylo Ren—scoffed. “I could make you watch…or I could let him go free. If you would only agree to once again be—”_

_“Don’t say it, or I_ will _throw up on you,” Poe gasped, going still, eyeing him carefully. And he knew what he had to do. “It’s just sex. Nothing we haven’t done before.”_

_“Just sex,” the mask was back, and it was smiling, and the restraints clicked open. “And I’ll let him go. He’ll still have Rey, and I’ll have you.”_

_He’d already been mind-raped by this guy. What did his body matter? This was just a hallucination, anyway. Of course his hallucinations would go like this. Poe disgusted himself. But at least, if it was a dream, Poe should have no qualms about sitting up, grabbing the mask by the back of its smooth chrome and kissing it. It felt like lips. Fuck, he was high._

_Poe slid onto Ren’s lap. They were in his childhood bed, and Ben was suddenly young again and Poe was young again and their only worry was that Ben’s mom or Poe’s dad could walk in on them any second._

_This was a dream, and he was going to wake up humping a pillow or something and it would be embarrassing but at least it would be over._

For a split second, Finn thought Poe had heard him and finally woken up, because he was in his lap and kissing him, which was great, only...there was something wrong. There was something very, very weird in that kiss that jarred Finn, and he froze, not sure what to do. Poe wasn’t kissing _him_.

Was this what Poe felt like when he had those episodes where he forgot he wasn't in the First Order anymore?

"Poe?" he asked, his voice sounding small and a little frightened to his own ears. But Poe had pulled him from enough of these things—Finn owed him that much. With effort, Finn pulled himself together and gently removed Poe from his lap (part of him argued that perhaps just clinging to him would have accomplished a similar purpose of confusing him into awareness) and took one of his hands between his. He couldn't think of what else to do—confusion and horror and heartache still had him half frozen to the spot, hoping that Poe would—would just wake up and _look_ at him, and actually see him.

_Ren sniffed him. It made Poe’s skin crawl. “You’ve missed me.”_

_“Oh, yeah, because genocidal maniac with mind control powers is so my type,” Poe bit out. He could talk tough all day, but he felt bile rising in his throat. “If I fuck you, will you let Finn go? And I mean, let him_ live _, not that metaphorical shit you villains try to pull.”_

_“I’m not the villain here, Poe. You’re betraying your loved ones. You’re betraying your Resistance.”_

_Poe lost it, and punched him, hard. “Fuck you, pal, I’m_ saving _the Resistance!”_

"Ow, kriff," Finn cursed as Poe lunged for him, punching him in the face. Well, that was probably only fair, but he had no droid to zap Poe back into himself, and he held up a hand to stop Rey doing anything because it would probably only worsen the situation. "Poe, I'm sorry, I know—" Finn started, but couldn't finish, couldn't admit out loud that he knew restraining Poe would only scare him worse. He threw himself forward on top of Poe, pinning his arms to his sides and tangling their legs together. He ground his teeth as Poe fought him, but didn't let go.

_Then Poe was back in the chair again, manacled in. He was clothed, and bloody, and Kylo Ren was pulling out of his mind, leaving a sticky, dark residue behind. Poe felt disgusting, used, weak._

_“The map is still on the planet. A BB-unit,” he heard Kylo Ren say, distantly._

_"We'll soon have it," said another voice._

_“N-no!” Poe gasped, thrashing weakly. “BB-8! Finn! Finn, help! We have to get back to Jakku!”_

"I'm trying to help you, Poe, I promise I am. If you'd just wake up, love, my sun and stars, just wake up," Finn was practically begged him.

Now the biting metal of the manacles was—arms, legs, and Poe started, opening his eyes this time to—

"F-Finn? Finn!" That was definitely Finn, calling him his sun and stars, and he felt real and he felt right and smelled right, and Poe went limp. "It's you, it's really you, oh gods." He was shaking, wanting to scream but too worn out. "Finn—I dreamed—" but he shuddered, body tensing again, and he couldn't say it. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said, and let out a dry sob.

"Oh, thank the Maker," Finn breathed as Poe opened his eyes, aware again of his surroundings. "It's okay, Poe, it’s alright. It was a dream, I have you. Come here." He pulled Poe into his lap and snuggled him against his chest, arms wrapped tight around him. And if a few stray tears fell into Poe's hair, probably neither Rey nor Poe noticed, and wouldn't care even if they did. He didn't even notice Rey had squeezed back into the tent until she pressed against his side, quivering again but also wrapping her arms around both of them. "Okay. We're okay, no harm done," he reassured them. Rey touched his cheek gently at that and he winced. Ok, so only _mostly_ no harm done. But it didn't matter, he was fine, and bruises would heal.

Once he felt strong enough and real enough, Poe sat up under his own strength and hugged Finn fiercely, welcoming Rey into the embrace when he realized she was close by, too. "Love you," he whispered. That was all he had—his completely inadequate self but—Force, he would do _anything_ for either of them, so the dream had not been so ridiculous, after all (even if it was narcissistic, _Like, seriously, Ben Organa-Solo did not go Darkside for want of your cock, Dameron_ ).

Finn was crying into Poe’s hair and it felt like being blessed, being anointed. "I'm sorry, Finn. I'm sorry. I love you. Love you both." He took a careful breath, waited until he could say it without trembling: "Gonna try to stay awake."

"Me, too," Rey agreed. They were still clinging to Finn like it would help them cling to consciousness. "Do we have any water left?" she asked after a minute, and when Finn pointed out a bottle she drank enough to slake her thirst before offering it to Poe.

Poe, feeling like he was wearing more moisture than was in this canteen (gross, gross, gross, he thought), gulped it down, nearly finishing it, before he forced himself to stop. "Finn—have you had any?" It would be just like Finn to let them have all the water. Which, okay, at the rate they were sweating, maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea (Rey's hair looked like she had jumped in a lake), but _still_.

 "I've had enough," Finn said, waving the water away. It was true that if he got dehydrated, there'd be no one to fight lizards, and he wasn't about to risk that situation when both Rey and Poe were getting enough water, but he was fine for now.

"Have you seen anything?" Rey asked, looking out at the darkness. "Maybe the lizards sleep during the night?" She looked at Poe.

"Maybe we should make a run for the ship?" Poe grimaced.

"I’m not sure when they sleep. I haven't seen them, but they're there. Sometimes one moves, I think. I've heard rustling," he said to Rey, glancing at the blaster that he'd kept within arm's reach.  "Do you think you can both make it to the ship?" he asked, because while they were at least both coherent for the moment, he wasn't convinced that either of them would be running anywhere, much less all the way back to the ship with lizards behind them.

"Okay, _run_ might be a stretch. I could...stagger that direction?" Poe offered. "Trudge? Hobble?" He pulled back enough to grin at Finn, but Finn's face was serious.

At least Rey thought he was funny, and she chuckled breathlessly as she considered, her cheek still pressed against Finn's shoulder. "There's water on the ship. And I'd feel—we _all_ would feel better there." It was getting hard to cope with the waves of fear she could feel coming off her brave boys, and anyway she wasn't sure what she'd try to do with the Force if she fell asleep again.

"Even if we're slow, it's gotta be easier for you to protect us on the move than—just waiting," Poe added, sitting up. "And I could handle a blaster now, I think. Feel relatively lucid. I think that last one literally scared the hallucinations out of me." He grinned, even though that wasn't funny.

"I can lean on my staff, so you can help Poe," Rey said.

"Hey, you're the more injured one," Poe retorted petulantly.

"And you're the one whose equilibrium is garbage,” Rey pointed out. “Did you hit your head?"

Poe realized he was definitely listing to one side, but it was the only way his head didn't hurt. "No...?"

Finn watched Poe list again right after he'd sat up, before reaching over and pulling him back to him. "Are you sure you didn't?" he asked, gently running his fingers through Poe's hair as he felt for any bumps or blood. He flinched when Poe flinched, dropping his hand. "I think you did, when you were struggling earlier. I'm sorry," he said.

Poe huffed. "Not your fault," he said, reaching up to touch his own head. At least there wasn't any blood. " _I'm_ sorry." Finn was trembling, and Poe gripped him in a tight hug. "I'm okay," he said. "I promise." He sat up again, keeping his back and neck straight. "We got this. We can—just bail on the supplies. Force crystals and weapons are all we need. And Finn to tell us what's real and what's not," he added with a wink.

"Okay. But we take the emergency blanket and what's left of the water and protein packs, just in case we get stuck between here and there," Finn said, reaching for his pack and stuffing the blanket into it. "You two go in front, I'll bring up the rear—Poe, stop _smirking_ , you're ridiculous," he said with a small but earnest laugh. "Here, finish this water," he said, taking a few sips before passing it to Rey, who drank a sip and passed it to Poe.

"Ready?" Finn asked when they were done, serious again.

"Hey, I'm really proud of myself for sitting up and not hallucinating, thanks," Poe said, glad (stupidly relieved, actually) that he got even a small laugh out of Finn. They crawled out of the tent one by one, Rey leaning on her staff and Poe finding that standing was fine—walking in a straight line was a struggle but he was good at standing. He wondered how flying was going to be. "Okay, I don't—which way?" he asked, and laughed. _We are so boned_ , he thought to himself.

"Not that one—here, hold onto Rey," Finn said, putting Poe's hand on Rey's shoulder. He took his blaster while he was at it. "The last thing you need right now is to shoot at anything," he told him, and nodded on ahead. "Let's go. If we're quiet enough, they might not notice right away..." he said optimistically.

Poe whined at the blaster being lifted from his hands, but Finn was right, of course, and he shifted his hand to Rey's staff so that they both held onto it. The earth was tipping and spinning, so occasionally Poe felt Finn's hands grab them each by the waist to redirect their path.

But so far, nothing.

Rey reached out with the Force, willing it to guide her back to the ship. That wasn't working so great, or else stupid Poe with his stupid head injury kept shifting them off course. Still, she could sense life forms, but none near them, and that was good. They were even making decent progress, though she was soon shivering in the night air.

"Finn," she hissed, stopping so suddenly that Poe crashed into her. "I think—there’s some over that hill there. A—a lot of them, Finn," she whispered. "Unless I'm hallucinating with the Force, I don't know."

"Um," Poe said, chancing a glance behind Finn. "Tell me _that's_ a hallucination, please?"

The ground was wriggling with lizards, like a wave, still far enough to look like water in the darkness, but water that moved wrong.

"Nope, that one’s real,” Finn said. “I really hope _you're_ hallucinating," he told Rey, firing his blaster back into the swarm of lizards behind them. "Move faster," he told them, reaching back toward them to hustle them along. The swarm was getting closer, and resolving itself into a countable number, which was both too many and too close for Finn's liking. He picked the one closest to him and shot it dead, prompting a few of its brethren to stop and fight over who got to eat the body.

Poe put an arm around Rey's waist, pulling her along as he began to run. It wasn't graceful or good at all, but it was forward movement, and that was what counted. They soon became aware that there were creatures thundering around them (their footsteps sounded loud in Poe's ears), their venom-spit flying past, and Rey beat a few off with her staff, her strikes still angry and deadly and wow Poe really shouldn't be thinking that was hot, not _now_.

"Look out!" Poe cried as he looked back just in time to see one jump on Finn's back. "Kriff!" he said, and the vibroknife was out and then the lizard was in two pieces.

“You’re not hurt?” Poe demanded.

“Fine,” Poe gasped. “Keep moving.”

"Where did you get _that_?" Rey asked Poe, pointing to the vibroknife. Finn just looked overwhelmed.

"Classic stormtrooper," Poe gasped as they continued to run. "Tries to disarm me—forgets to check for knives." He was grinning, in spite of everything.

"Oh my gods, Poe, just shut up and run," Rey groaned.

Poe was incapable of shutting up. "You know when I got back from the _Finalizer_ I _still_ had a knife in my boot? Not that it did me a lot of—" Poe laughed, but stopped as they crested the hill.

"Please tell me that’s the _Falcon_?" Rey asked.

"No, it's definitely just a giant mynock," Finn gasped. Clearly all this running and death defying and being attacked by lizards was doing strange things to his sense of humor. Or he was picking up Poe’s bad habits.

"Really? Both of you?" Rey asked, aghast, and dragged Poe down the hill after her. Finn took another shot at the lizards and hit another, but there was no way of fighting all of them, so he turned and went after Poe and Rey, shedding his pack now that they were close to the _Falcon_ and its promised water and supplies.

They staggered inside, both Rey and Poe missing the lever to get the door and leaving it to Finn to hit it as they collapsed in a heap.

It took Rey a moment to realize that her chest hurt, and she was gasping, and their loud breaths was all she could hear in the quiet of the dark ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning with Spoilers: Poe has a nightmare about his time on the Finalizer and dreams up a scenario where Kylo Ren will spare Finn's life if Poe has sex with Ren. While we read what Ren does to Poe in the film as very much an assault that just happens to "only" be mental, the physical dub-con here is limited to his nightmare (and does not progress past kissing).


	7. Chapter 7

She was the first to speak. "Cold," she said, curling towards Finn's feet. Poe sat up to go to her and then promptly laid down again as the world spun.

"Okay but we made it, right?" Poe gasped. "We're here, we're safe? I'm not hallucinating this?"

"Yeah, Poe, we're here and safe, relatively speaking. No lizards, at least, thank the Maker," Finn said, crouching down next to Rey and petting her hair. "I'm going to pick you up, okay?" he asked her, and when she nodded, still shivering, he bundled her into his arms and took her to the bedroom where they'd all three taken turns sleeping on the way here. He covered her with blankets and hurried back to Poe. "Sorry, love. Want to go to bed? I'll bring you water, and you can rest if you don't want to sleep."

Poe blinked. "I like it when you call me ‘love,’" he said, groaning as Finn helped him to his feet. "Definitely don't want to sleep. But I want to lie down." He was perishingly warm, still, which was why Rey curled against him when he was deposited in the bed next to her. "Thanks, Finn," he whispered, blinking carefully. He looked down. "C'mere," he said, pulling Rey close against his side. "Is your arm okay?"

"Hurts," she murmured. "But it's fine."

Nothing they could really do about that. Painkillers probably not a good idea while working the venom from their systems. 

Poe toed off his boots, letting them clunk to the floor. "Finn, will you stay with us?" he rasped after a moment.

"Feels better when you're here," Rey agreed. His presence was soothing, but that would probably sound creepy out loud, so she didn’t say it.

"Just let me go double-check the lock on the ramp, okay? I'll be right back," Finn said, and when he returned, he crawled over Poe and they parted to let Finn into his usual spot between the two of them. Finn settled with his back against the wall and smiled when Rey immediately curled against his side. "So—how do we stay awake?" he asked, because the comfortable bed and his two bedmates were going to make it very difficult to stay awake.

"Wait til one of us wakes up screaming," Poe said with a grimace, pouring water over his face and then getting up on an elbow to drink it down. "I was kidding," he said, when neither of them laughed and both were looking at him with cold glares. "It has to be out of our systems soon, right?" he gasped. He was still shaking. He wasn’t sure how much more he could sweat.

"We don't have any power, and BB-8 is...still down, so we don't have any entertainment," Rey said. "F-Finn, you'll have to tell us a story."

Finn blinked. "I don't... I don't know any stories," Finn said quietly, petting both Poe's and Rey's hair. They both seemed to like it.

"Make one up," Rey answered. "They start 'Once upon a time' and there should be at least one prince or princess," she told him, and he laughed softly, looking down at her.

"Uh. Okay then. Anything else?" he asked.

Rey looked thoughtful for a moment. "A dragon." 

Finn raised his eyebrows. "What's a dragon?"

Poe snorted. "We just fought like five hundred of them. They're usually bigger though. Like a krayat dragon. Big lizardy things. Spit poison or fire."

As Finn began, to his credit, if haltingly, to tell them a story—there were two princes and a princess in this one, and Poe and Rey decided immediately that they liked it—his two companions settled, both pressing against him and linking their fingers over his stomach. Neither of them meant to, but Finn's voice was so warm, and his arms so safe, and they were so tired that suddenly they were both asleep.

And then the _Falcon_ roared to life.

Finn found that as long as he was talking, he could stay awake. He was glad he'd done so, especially when the lights flicked on and the engines started up with an unexpected and terrifying racket.  "Stay here," he told Rey and Poe, which was pointless because they were both basically unconscious, and Finn clambered back over Poe. He picked up the blaster which he set on the floor next to the bed with his own, and ran into the corridor. It was quiet outside, except for the insulated thunking and creaking of the Falcon as whatever was attacking them fought to get in. He heard the ramp scraping, shrieking as it was pried open, and ran toward the sound, stumbling off several walls as he went. The world was spinning just a little, though he wasn't sure if that was the _Falcon_ being moved or because he was exhausted.

Finn crouched next to the ramp entrance, half-hidden around the corner, and waited, heart hammering unevenly in his chest. He heard shots.

A hooded figure walked up the ramp: slow, measured steps. It radiated power, and a metal claw was visible.

"I told you something bad would happen if you came here."

"Get out, or we'll shoot," Finn shouted back, double-checking his blaster and hoping he wouldn't have to use it. Who even knew to find them here? They'd told no one where they were going, after all. He heard further footsteps up the ramp and jumped out from around the corner of the ramp and aimed. "I don't care who you are, but if you take one more step, I'm warning you, I will shoot," he stated clearly.

Luke Skywalker drew back his hood.

"Finn, would you please lower the blaster?" he asked, his voice kind and companionable. He could have Commanded it with the Force, but he did not. "I assure you, I am not a hallucination. Were you poisoned, as well? When did you last sleep?" He waited before taking any step closer.

Finn was trying to parse what the man was saying, or even what he looked like, but with the difference in light levels between the Falcon and outside, he couldn't quite make sense of the face. And how did he know his name, and that Poe and Rey had been poisoned? "I—what?" he asked, the blaster wavering slightly. "Who are you—look, I don't care who you are, and all we want is to get off this planet, so if you'll just _get off our kriffing ship_ , we'll be going," he growled.

Suddenly Luke was in front of him, nudging the blaster out of his hand and supporting Finn with an arm around his back (by accident or somehow knowing, he didn't touch the line of the scar his nephew made). "It's all right, young man," he said, as Finn was about to protest. "You're okay. And you've done very well. You've done very well taking care of them, and now I need you to rest." As Finn wavered, "You have completed your mission," Luke added. “Thank you.”

 _Oh_. Luke was here? But where had he come from?

"Close the...the ramp. There were lizards. They want to eat Poe and Rey," he told the Jedi, trying to look down the ramp for something to aim at. "My blaster is gone," he said in confusion. This whole lack of sleep thing combined with adrenaline crash was not a picnic. "We have to watch for the lizards," he insisted, because that was what he'd been doing, so it was probably what he should still be doing now.

"Chewie is here, he's taking care of the lizard problem," Luke said with a smile. "We are perfectly safe in here. Can you take me to them?" he said, leaving one arm on him to steady the ex-stormtrooper as he led them into the first bedroom—Han’s old room, Luke noted with fond sadness.

"I need you to lie down again," Luke said. "It's all right to sleep," he told Finn, and turned to the two already on the bed. He laid a hand over Poe's brow and frowned slightly, repeating the same motion with Rey. "They'll be all right, now—"

"Master Luke!" Rey squeaked, snapping upright, as if awakened with a spell.

"General Skywalker," Poe gasped, sitting up more slowly and with much less grace. "It wasn't her fault or Finn’s it was my idea, sir," he slurred.

"No, it was my idea," Rey said, "but I got my crystals!"

Luke almost had to roll his eyes. "Back to sleep, all of you. We'll talk about this in the morning."

"Who's flying?" Poe demanded suddenly, but he could barely tell which direction was up right now and he screwed his eyes shut.

Finn was already fading fast, his body screaming at him for sleep now that someone else was here to watch over Poe and Rey and keep them safe. "Chewie’s not flying. He's shooting lizards," Finn said, trying to reason through it. Rey put her hand on his chest and gently pulled him back down to the bed, curling up cat-like half on top of him.

"Stop thinking. Time to sleep," she told Finn. She reached over and caught at Poe's shirt as well, curling her fingers into the fabric. "You, too."

"You're bossy," Finn told her, and she snorted, burying her face against his chest.

"She's trying not to get in more trouble," Poe smirked, but startled, eyes snapping open, as Luke drew a blanket up over the three of them. Just a blanket, wow, calm down.

All three of them missed the fond smile on Luke’s face. "I was once not such a bad pilot myself, you know," he reminded them with a small smile, and Poe nodded.

"That's true, I guess. I've seen all _The Luke Skywalker Adventures_ ," Poe huffed and closed his eyes again.

"Okay, there's going to be a small prick," Luke said, injecting Poe with something from a hypospray, and then doing the same to Rey.

"Wassat?" she said, frowning.

"Something to help you sleep until it wears off."

Both of them flinched upright, but Luke laid a hand on each of their chests. "It's all right. No hallucinations, no dreams. You'll sleep so hard your friend Finn here will be jealous, and you'll wake up back on D'Qar."

Poe mumbled something rude, kicking at the blanket, which Luke immediately righted.

"We need to find something for your fever," Luke hummed, going through the medical kit with an unhurried frown on his face. "Finn, will you drink this water, please?" he pressed, handing a bottle across without looking up. But when Finn didn't take it immediately, and looked, in fact, worryingly sluggish, Luke opened the bottle and helped him sit up to drink. "When was the last time you slept? You've been gone for three days."

Finn didn't realize he was being spoken to until Rey elbowed him. "Three days?" he asked, and blinked, trying to count the number of hours he'd been awake. "I slept on the way here, when we left," he finally answered, not up to doing the math.

Luke nodded, taking the bottle when it was empty. "It's all right, now, Finn. You can relax."

Poe was restless, and Luke was struck with a memory of the young man as a baby, kicking and squirming and hating how tired he was. "Be still," he whispered, laying a hand on his brow. "You know as a child you only ever cried when it was bedtime?"

Poe laughed at that. "Stop makin' fun of me," he grumped, and then turned towards Finn and Rey and surrendered to sleep.

Rey laughed at that bit of news and curled around Finn.

"What happened to that arm?" Luke asked.

Rey yawned. "Lizard bite. And. Lizard venom." She was suddenly dizzyingly sleepy.

When they were both still, Luke laid a hand on Finn's brow, too. "Would you like a sedative, as well?" he asked.

When Luke touched his forehead, Finn started, prevented from sitting up only by Rey and Poe curled around him. It seemed he was not so eager to just let Luke take over—not after spending what must have been the better part of two days defending his friends from attacking lizards.  "Sorry," he mumbled, nestling down and resolutely closing his eyes. It was unfair, as tired as he was, that something so small as Luke touching him would startle him fully awake. "Sedative?" he asked miserably, bothered that he even had to do so—but he was so tired he could feel himself trembling.

Luke shook his head to tell him it was nothing, preparing the injection. "It's all right now. They are alive because of you. I'm very grateful, and proud," he said. Finn didn't even blink at the bite of the needle. "Sleep now. When you wake up, you'll be home."

The sound of BB-8 beeping shrilly in the background startled them both, and Poe stirred even in his deep artificial sleep, but R2 seemed to be explaining things to his small friend. Chewie was also shouting something about takeoff, and Luke turned. "I'll be there in a minute!" He told the Wookiee, who went through pre-flight checks. "I'll check on you when we're in hyperspace, all right?" Luke said, standing. "Rest now."

Finn mumbled a sleepy thank you and fidgeted around until he was comfortable.  He sighed deeply, pulling Rey closer to him as he nestled against Poe's chest.


	8. Chapter 8

The next time he awoke, Finn was confused to find himself in medical. When he tried groggily to sit up and get his bearings, he managed an uncoordinated flail and a noise of inquiry. Oh, right.  Eyes should be open first, probably, and maybe he was still a little exhausted. And he had a truly incredible headache, though it luckily wasn't made much worse by the lights when he opened his eyes. Poe was to a bed on one side of him, and Rey on the other, and he had an IV in his arm-- which was no longer wearing the clothes he'd left in.

This could only end in scolding from Dr. Kalonia and probably two or three or more other people.

Dr. Kalonia bustled in, giving him a kind smile. "For not having any venom in you, you had us worried, young man," she said, changing out a bag, as he was still taking fluids. "You were severely dehydrated and over-exhausted. How are you feeling now?"

"...Moderately dehydrated and somewhat over-exhausted," Finn answered, grinning when Kalonia shot him a look that implied she was concerned he was turning into Poe. 

BB-8 rolled over, chattering rapidly asking what they had missed. [Friend-Poe is still sleeping! What happened, Friend-Finn?]

Finn looked down and smiled.  "Aw, hi, bud!  I thought I heard you wake up on the _Falcon_. When did you get taken out?" he asked the little droid.

[There were gravity wells and the _Friend-Millennium Falcon_ started shutting down and then I fell asleep!] they squealed, and Finn reached a hand down to calm them. [What happened to Friend-Poe and Friend-Rey?] they asked, almost accusingly.

"Well, alright. We crashed, sort of, and then we went to find Rey's crystals and they found a nest of frilled lizards that spit acid venom when you bother them,” Finn explained, and looked up at Dr. Kalonia. “But they're okay now—right?" Finn said, looking up at Dr. Kalonia. BB-8 seemed placated by Finn's answer and rocked idly near him.

"Yes, they're all right. The venom is mostly out of their systems, and their fevers have broken. You can return to your quarters tonight, but I'd like for Rey and Poe to remain on bed rest for another day."

Poe began to shift on the bed next to him.

"...If it can be managed," she said with a wink at Finn, and stepped around to Poe’s bed. "Think he'll notice if we just sedate him again?" she teased, but BB-8 gave an indignant beep. "You're no fun, BB-8. Good morning, Commander Dameron, welcome back."

Poe tried to swallow. "Finn? Rey—? B-Bee?" he mumbled, shifting as he tried to shake the last of the sedative.

Dr. Kalonia withdrew the IV from his arm, since his blood pressure and sugar levels were back to normal. "They are all right here. Everyone’s perfectly fine. Rest."

Finn made an attempt to get up and reassure Poe that he was right there, since he still sounded sedative-groggy and seemed about as coordinated as Finn felt. But he still had the IV in his arm, and when Kalonia noticed him looking at it in quiet semi-confusion, she shook her head. "You get to keep that until you're more hydrated and I'm sure you'll keep water down if I give it to you," she said, lightly scolding him, and he settled back to his pillows, smiling angelically. On his other side, Rey also started moving around, though in a much more coordinated way than either of the other two. She opened her eyes first, for one thing.

"Finn?" she asked first, sounding confused.

"Right here. Poe is on my other side. Your boss and your co-pilot saved the day," he told her.

"Oh gods," she groaned, throwing her uninjured arm over her face. "Embarrassing. Chewie will never let me live this down."

Dr. Kalonia laughed. "You can always remind him about the mynock nest incident," she said mysteriously, and Poe smiled and sat up. " _Commander_ ," she said wearily, but Poe didn't move beyond touching the bandage on the back of his neck and scrubbing his face with a hand.

"How long were we out?" he asked.

"About 24 hours, according to Master Skywalker. He gave you all a second sedative, and it and that nasty venom are both finally out of your systems."

"Great. Where are my clothes?"

"Commander Dameron..."

But Rey moaned again and Dr. Kalonia moved to her bedside as Poe staggered from his bed into a chair closer to Finn. BB-8 bumped his knee and whistled, and Poe touched him gratefully, also taking Finn's hand.

"You saved us," he finally said.

"And you're supposed to be in bed," Finn scolded, reaching over and tugging Poe's hand until he sat on the bed with him. "Lie down, I'm snuggling you," he told him, still a little too tired to accept any shenanigans such as Poe insisting he was fine sitting up. He would have preferred to have both Poe and Rey where he could see them, but Rey was grumbling to the doctor about a headache, and the narrow bed barely fit two of them, would much less fit three. So he settled for dragging Poe into bed with him and tucking him against his chest until he was practically incapable of movement.

"I—hey," Poe said, but he wasn't going to _complain_ about being snuggled up and pinned to Finn's side, and the smug look he could give Dr. Kalonia when she turned around was more than worth it.

Rey giggled as Dr. Kalonia raised her bed so she could sit up, the IV pumping something into her to help with the headaches, which also made her feel like those cocktails had. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm lying down," Poe said, voice a little muffled against Finn's shoulder. "Doctor's orders."

Dr. Kalonia sighed. "I'm going to have meals brought for—"

"Hey hey hey, look who— _oh for crying out loud_ , Poe, I can see your _entire_ ass!" came a shout from the door, and Poe looked up, tugging his hospital gown back down to cover himself.

"Snap!" Poe cried, struggling to sit up. "You brought food!"

Rey and Finn both lifted their heads, interest piqued.

"Food?" Finn asked, uncurling just enough to allow Poe to sit up—sort of.  Once he'd shifted back against the pillows, Finn gently but firmly pushed Poe back against them, too, so he was only half sitting up. "You stay there," he told him as Snap greeted the Doctor and handed Rey her food. He set more food in Finn and Poe's laps and even handed a bag to the doctor, smiling as he did so. Finn opened his own bag and found a sandwich and some soup inside. 

Silence—at least from Finn and Rey—reigned for several moments before Snap noticed Finn's black eye when he dragged a chair over between the two occupied beds.

"Whoa, Finn, nice shiner! What's the other guy look like?" Snap said jokingly, and Finn froze before laughing it off.

"Ah, he's not so bad. It was an accident anyway," he said.

Poe grinned faintly, leaning in to get a good look, and then gasped. "Was that _me_?" he said, and when Finn didn't answer right away he paled.

If he had hurt Finn—which was possibly the worst thing Poe had ever done—including betraying the Resistance—then how much else of the dream had he—Poe needed desperately to ask what else of his dreams he had acted out or said aloud, because _kriff_...

"Stars and skies, Finn," he said, feeling sick suddenly and setting his food down.

Finn put an arm over Poe's shoulder and hugged him close. "Hey, you don't get to do that," he told Poe firmly. "Not when you haven't let me when I've hit you in my sleep."

Snap looked slightly upset that he'd messed up without meaning to, so Finn gave him a reassuring smile. “Uh, I mean, it’s a very _weak_ bruise? Looks like a baby Jawa punched you?” he tried, and Poe managed a slight glare at that.

"If it makes you feel any better, I beat him up when I met him—and I wasn't even asleep. I did it on purpose," Rey said from where she still sat on the edge of her bed.

Poe took Finn's hand and squeezed it, hard, but he managed a laugh at Rey's comment, and Snap’s, letting the jokes pull him out of the clawing fear at what further burdens he might already have lain on these two dear children. "No, that doesn't, actually! Look at this face, how could you want to harm this face?" he said, smiling as he patted Finn's cheek, the haunted look in his eyes almost going away.

Snap scooted closer. "Hey, you gonna eat that?" he asked, picking food out of Poe's bag of food in a not-so-subtle reminder it was there and he should eat. Poe hated Snap right now, but he crunched on a frog anyway.

"Yeah, but BB-8 didn't like him, and Bee is cuter."

" _Hey_!"

"Sorry, Finn, it's true, Poe's droid is cuter than you," Snap agreed.

"C'mere buddy, we gotta stick together," Finn said, bending off the bed so he could reach BB-8, who obliged him by putting out a mechanical appendage and pulling themselves up onto the bed. Finn wrapped his arms around the ball droid and rested his head on top of their dome, watching Rey with what he hoped was a very pathetic face.

"Oh Maker, stop, you're ridiculous. Poe, please hit him again," she said, and flicked a frog leg at him, which Snap intercepted with a grin before eating it.

"Never," Poe said, forgetting for a moment that they were supposed to be joking.

Snap saved it: "Only if he asks nicely, right?" he said with a suggestive wink.

"Holy kriff, Snap, they barely know what sex is and you're—" Poe said, punching his arm weakly. It was still funny, though, and he laughed.

BB-8 hooted something urgent and quick, and Poe held out his left hand to them, palm up. "Ouch, BB-8, gentle," he said, when there was a small spark at his wrist.

"What was that?" Rey asked.

"Oh, my sensor chip needed an update or something," he explained. "Helps BB-8 locate me short-range. And they like to check my vitals and stuff. Obsessed with vitals, once they learned what they were.” He laughed at BB-8's next whistle. “Yes, BB-8, Rey and Finn and Snap have vitals, too."

BB-8 apparently liked this situation, being on the bed with Poe and Finn where they could pay attention to them, and they burbled happily, settling in with a little side to side swivel motion. It reminded Finn of Hux's cat, but BB-8 was far less likely to take chunks from him just for reaching out a hand to pet them. "Is that how they knew where we were that time I got kidnapped?" Finn asked curiously, looking at Poe's hand. There was nothing to see, of course, but he kept hold of Poe's hand anyway. He could just eat one-handed.

Poe was grateful for the touch, and he squeezed back, remembering to eat when Snap stole a carrot. "Damn it, Snap!" And then to Finn: "Well, it's really short range, but once he's within a klik or so, yeah. The First Order might have reversed the signal to find BB-8, if the range was greater or, you know, they weren't idiots." He grinned, leaning down on one elbow and showing Snap his naked backside again, laughing when the other pilot groaned and covered his eyes.

"Okay, I know when I'm not wanted. Seems like you're doing fine, anyway. Oh, one thing, for Finn and Rey, from Jess, a thank you for bringing our fearless leader back in at least two pieces," Snap said, producing a bar of chocolate.

Poe sat up. "Hey! None for me?"

"We are talking about the same Jessika Testor Pava, right?" Snap deadpanned.

"Get out of here," Poe said, throwing a grape at him.

" _Chocolate_! Thanks, Snap. Tell Jess thanks, too?" Finn asked, and Rey added a "From me too!" before opening hers and taking one small bite. Finn looked over at her and smiled fondly—it was the only food he'd ever seen her eat slow enough to taste, just about.

Finn turned back to Poe, giving him a speculative look. "Hmmmm, I suppose it's possible I could be convinced to share this chocolate, if you'd like some," he said, joking, and broke off a piece, holding it out to Poe.

"You're a monster," Poe said, but he took the chocolate and surged forward to press a kiss to Finn's lips before devouring it. It was too waxy and milky but it was still _chocolate_ and he was maybe afraid Finn was going to take it back. "Okay, I'm going to find some pants," he decided, sliding gingerly off the bed.

"Poe!" Rey scolded. "You're supposed to be resting!"

"I can rest with pants on, can't I?" he asked, knowing which cabinet the paper-thin fit-all shorts were kept in, and he got a pair for each of them.

"If you don't stop getting up every five minutes, Dr. K. is going to keep you here and kick me and Rey out," Finn warned Poe while he put the shorts on. Rey snorted from her side of the small room. Then she yawned.

"Okay. I'm tired, which means you're probably more tired, because _I_ only got hit in the hand and _I_ didn't hit my head on a rock," she told Poe.

Finn was already lying back in bed—unlike  some people, he still had an IV and while he could move to eat or make room for Poe on his bed, it wasn't like he could go wandering around. He reached out for Poe and gingerly pulled him back towards him.

Poe's eyes flashed briefly at that threat, but he smiled. "Yeah, but you wouldn't leave me, would you?" he said with an easy smirk, and finally crawled back into Finn's bed. "A little space here, Bee, please?" he asked, nudging BB-8 to the foot of the bed. Glancing over Finn's shoulder, he noticed Rey looked a little wistful. "Hey, darling, you want to join us?"

Rey looked a little uncertain, but she did stand up and move close. "I'm not sure there's room for me," she said softly, and Finn held out his other hand. She let herself be drawn to the edge of the bed and smiled as Finn pulled Poe closer, tucking him to his chest again and making just enough room for Rey to lay down on his other side.

"There's _always_ room for you, sunshine," Finn said gently.

"Come here," Poe said, wrestling her around the middle until she lay squarely on top of Finn, and he grinned. "That's a beautiful sight," he said, mostly to himself, as they got comfortable, and then there was a crash as one of the bags of food, forgotten, landed on the floor.

"Shit," Poe said, sliding off again to pick it up, wiping hastily at patches of grease on the floor. "Tell me if she's—coming," Poe said, looking up to find Dr. Kalonia standing at the door.

"Sorry!" Poe stammered. "The food fell! I was picking it up."

"Just—" she began, and sighed, waving a hand. "You can go. Dameron, off the floor, I'll get MT-6 to look after that." She removed the IV from Finn brusquely. "Eat and drink plenty, and—I’d say bedrest but you'll do what you want, won't you?"

And then she was gone.

Poe managed a smile. "Hey, gang, time to put those shorts on!"

"You're lucky she didn't catch us all in this bed," Finn told Poe, but he was laughing, not annoyed. He had his own plans for keeping Poe where he couldn't hurt himself, once they got back to the room. But he had no intention of appearing outside medical in _shorts_ , so he hunted until he found longer pants in the same cabinet as the shorts.

"Picky, picky," Poe laughed as he helped Rey dress and together they shuffled back into their room, BB-8 hooting happily at having their friends going back where they belonged (Poe thought it was part of the organization-obsession subroutine: BB-8 wanted everything in its place when it wasn't in use).

His bed looked _really_ inviting, however, once they arrived, and he flopped gratefully into it, face-first, and groaned.

"Hey, shove over," Rey said miserably, stepping on his kidneys on purpose, Poe was sure, to crawl over him.

Finn smiled, taking a moment to lean in the doorway and watch Rey snuggle into the covers and pillows. She looked like she was attempting to build a nest, really, but eventually she stopped moving blankets and pillows and sighed deeply, finally comfortable and content. Finn sat down next to Poe and touched him on the shoulder before stretching out and resting his cheek against his shoulder-blade.

Poe hummed and smiled into the pillow, turning to welcome Finn into his arms. "C'mere," he said, voice rough with sleep, kissing Finn's cheek as he pulled him into a tight embrace. "You let us take care of you now, huh?" he whispered, curling arms and legs around him and rolling until Finn was in his proper place between them.

Rey nodded, though her eyes were already closed as she snuggled up to Finn's side. "Thank you, Finn," she whispered, kissing his shoulder.

Finn was content here, with both Rey and Poe curled up next to him and safe and sound and whole.  He smiled at Rey, though she couldn't see him with her eyes closed, and kissed her on the forehead.  "Any time," he told her, "Though hopefully not often." She smiled softly and nudged under his chin, then fell asleep. Rey feeling safe enough to fall asleep so thoroughly in such a short amount of time just because she was snuggled against his chest caused his breath to catch and his heart to melt, and he rested a hand softly on her hair as he, too, dozed.

Poe bit his lip to keep from giggling at how cute Rey was, and he curled tighter around Finn as he felt himself drifting. There was a smell in his nostrils he didn't like, though, and he stripped out of the clothes from medical, throwing them on the floor. Rey and Finn looked so cute and inviting together that he kind of wanted to crawl on top of both of them so he could be holding them both at the same time, and maybe he had been about to do that just to be funny, to make them whine at him and try to push him off, but then Finn turned in his sleep and the darkening bruise just below his eye caught the light and Poe recoiled.

It wasn't even the bruise. Finn had done worse to him, frankly, at full strength and with twenty years of stormtrooper training behind his punches, but _what else had Finn seen_? What had _both_ of them seen, or heard? Poe didn't know if Finn knew what he had been dreaming about, but just the possibility made him wince, with shame more than anything else.

Poe sat up fully, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and putting his head in his hands. And now, to top it all off, he was _replaying_ that stupid weird disgusting hallucination in his head, which, of course, _his own mind_ had come up with, it wasn't like this was an outside force preying on him but his own fucked up head betraying him...

Poe got up, went to the washroom, and splashed cold water on his face. How did you tell your boyfriend and girlfriend that you’d done some bad things in your life, and one of them was Ben Organa-Solo? _Yeah, so, Finn, I’ve definitely slept with that masked terror who nearly severed your spine in half. Rey, that guy who tortured you? Yeah, I-can-take-whatever-I-want guy. Totally a former conquest of mine. And his dick is really not proportionate to how tall he is, let me tell you…_

When Poe stood, Finn felt the bed spring back to where it had been, and he listened sleepily for Poe to come back. But instead, he heard the sink in the washroom. After several moments, it hadn't shut off, and Finn disentangled himself from Rey to go see what Poe was doing...or maybe to make sure he hadn't fallen over or something.

"Are you alright?" Finn asked him after watching him wash his face with the very cold water several times. Poe looked haunted, much like he had when he's seen Finn's eye—which Finn had long since forgiven him for. Besides, this hardly seemed like a self-enforced guilt trip.

Poe nodded, straightening with some effort. "Yeah, Finn. I'm—yeah." He swallowed and shut off the water. "I just—I’m sorry I hit you," he blurted out like it was the whole truth when it wasn't, turning to face Finn but not reaching out like he wanted to, instead leaning back against the sink. Stars, and Finn looked so worried and earnest and open. _Just tell him! He already knows!_ Something inside him screamed, but he squashed it down along with the voice that said _You don't deserve him._

Poe didn’t want to think about what he _did_ deserve.

Finn stepped into Poe's space, resting one hand to either side of his hips, and met his eyes, seeking understanding. When he found none, he instead kissed Poe softly. "I don't believe you," he told him and hugged him close.

"F-Finn," Poe protested, and then Finn was kissing him and hugging him and stars he was so close to letting it all tumble out of him but Finn didn't need that.

Then Finn turned and leaned on the counter next to Poe, facing the same direction. "Were you ever going to tell me what...actually happened before I rescued you?" he asked gently, not letting concern make his voice sharper than it needed to be. Of course Poe would have his secrets—that was a given, Finn figured, and he had his own. But he didn't _need_ to keep them in some misguided attempt at protection. Finn already knew the world could be a horrible place, so Poe was sparing him nothing and only making his own life more difficult.

"I—" Poe began, and then the implications of Finn's question registered and he went a little pale. "Oh!" he said, eyebrows climbing to his hairline as he turned to face Finn and take his hands. "N-no, nothing like that. Ren didn't _rape me_. I mean, not physically, nothing more than what I already told you. He—fucked my _head_ , bad, but—" He let out a breath. "What did I—when I was hallucinating?—I’m not sure what you saw, or what you think—" Poe tried a few times to finish, but finally grunted in frustration and shook his head. "I'm fine," he said, lamely. He’d already given everything away.

"You're not _acting_ fine," Finn told him, maybe grumbling a little bit. He reached over and took Poe's hand, willing him to understand. "If you really don't want to talk about it, we don't have to—but if you're keeping it all to yourself just because you want to—to spare me the heartache or the truth, you can trust that I wouldn't ask if I didn't think I could handle it," he said to their clasped hands. The things Poe had said had horrified him, made him ill on a level that made him powerless, regardless of what Poe said had or hadn't happened. But Poe didn't need to keep it from him.

Poe froze, and he wasn't sure what kept him from just falling over. Galaxies above, Finn trusted him and was asking for just a little bit of trust in return. "I _don't_ like talking about it," Poe admitted, and something in Finn's face fell slightly, darkened, a pout almost. "But you should know," he blurted out, and gulped, and when Finn looked at him he looked down. "I—Ben and I—kriff—" he stammered, and stepped away to sit on the toilet seat. "Before he was Kylo Ren, I told you we were—friends—we—were more than that, too. We—dated. Briefly. W-we had sex. I'm sorry I didn't—" This was like pulling teeth. "I didn't want you to hate me or think I was disgusting. I know you _won't_ but—I don’t know why my brain came up with that, of all things, to have a nightmare about. _I_ think I'm disgusting," he said, feeling on the verge of a sob, even though the next breath he released felt easier.

Finn wanted to wrap Poe in his arms and just keep him there until he could squeeze the self-loathing in that last statement out of him. Instead, he went over and crouched in front of him (and any other time, he had no doubt this would prompt some dirty joke that would make them both laugh). "It's okay. I don't know what you're apologizing for—all of it, it’s okay, Poe." And clearly Ben Solo had _meant_ something Poe, at one time, or he wouldn't have the tattoo of his name. It made it that much worse, what he'd done to Poe; it made the betrayal more egregious than it'd already been. “ _I’m_ sorry,” he said.

Poe wasn't expecting that. He didn't know what he was expecting—surprise, horror, discomfort at best—but Finn just crouched in front of him, close but not stifling, and didn't even blink. "But I—" he said, and wanted to protest this kindness, wanted Finn to get jealous or indignant or perhaps angry, threaten to kill the entire First Order for his virtue or something, but—he didn't. Why was it so simple with Finn?

Poe dropped to his knees and threw his arms around Finn's neck in a silent, desperate embrace.

Finn's heart caught in his throat as Poe clung to him, and he rearranged them so Poe was in his lap, holding him as desperately as he was being held. "I love you. I love you so much," he told him. And he could have lost him—and Rey too. The thought made him cling harder and bury his nose against Poe's shoulder. "Let me help you, when I can," he whispered in Poe’s ear, a reminder.

Only barely did Poe hold back the sob that tried to claw its way out of his chest, and instead he took in a shaky breath and let it out again, screwing his eyes shut. He squeezed Finn like he wanted them to occupy the same space. He wanted this to bruise, wanted to feel Finn's hands on him even when he let go.

'It's hard for me to let people help me,' he thought about saying, but that made him sound weak and he was pretty sure Finn already knew it, anyway. 'You shouldn't have to,' he almost said, but Finn might actually crush him to death if he tried that line again. So, "You already do. You always do," he said, because that certainly wasn't a lie, and three tears fell all in a rush and he hid them in Finn's hair. 'I don't know what I would do without you,' Poe almost added, but he'd never liked that phrase, even if there had never been anything more true in his life. "I love you, too, buddy," he moaned: "I love you. Oh stars and skies, I love you."

They sat on the floor for a while longer, neither of them letting the other go even a little. Eventually, though, the floor started getting uncomfortable, and Finn raised his head from Poe's shoulder. "Want to go back to sleep?" he asked, glancing at the open door. Then he smiled— "That is, if Rey hasn't stolen every blanket and pillow for her little nest," he added fondly.

Poe huffed at that, finally releasing Finn just a little. "Yeah—uh, no, n-not really," he corrected. "I'll come to bed, though. Just read or something," he flashed Finn a smile and kissed him softly. "That okay? I mean we all just slept for like twenty-four hours or something. I don't think I'd actually _sleep_ and you don't need to wake up to me crying twice in one day," he smirked and got up, pulling Finn to his feet.

Finn nodded as Poe helped him up and padded softly back to the bed, grinning when he saw that, yes, Rey had dragged more of the covers and pillows to her and looked perfectly content. She didn't even stir when Finn climbed up onto the bed next to her, though she did grumble at him when he stole a pillow and handed it to Poe to lean against so he could read.

"No, you take it," Poe whispered, kissing his temple and covering him with the edge of the blanket, and, as an afterthought, he pulled on some sweatpants before lying down. He tossed his datapad on the bed and lay on his stomach, chin resting on his fists as he found one of his favorite holonovels, one he'd read about thirty times since he was twelve. "I'll be right here," he promised, hooking his arm around Finn's hips and sighing at how much better the touch of skin against skin made him feel. "Love you, Finno."

"Love you more," Finn answered, relaxing now that he was sure Poe was next to him and that he'd know if he got up. He stretched a hand out to Rey, too, resting it on her arm, and yawned. He wasn't sure he was sleepy enough to actually fall asleep, but he was still tired in a way that seemed to invade his very bones. After about fifteen minutes watching Poe read, he let his eyes drift shut and fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Poe read for most of the afternoon while Finn and Rey dozed, peacefully by all accounts. He snuck out of bed to have snacks handy, and once Finn woke for water and Rey twice for water and food, he was able and glad he could provide for them. It made him feel useful, when bedrest otherwise made him feel annoyed. The only thing good about it was watching those two sleep—how they curled around each other and sought him out, too, how spectacular Rey's hair looked and how adorably Finn rubbed his eyes. Like Poe, Rey could be a talker, but her dreams appeared to be funny (in this she was fighting with BB-8 over a sandwich), and Finn was a really heavy sleeper who hardly ever moved, while Rey was the one who could wake up with her feet on the pillow because she wiggled so much.

But even watching them be the cutest people in the galaxy bored Poe after a while, and after reading all his favorite parts of his book and trying to find something else to read, he got his flight sim program out, carefully, slowly so as not to wake them, to go fake-flying from the comfort of his bed. (It was the only way he could get inside the cockpit of an A-wing and not be judged for it anymore.)

He figured Finn would sleep through it, even though his body jinked with the controls, moving the bed, but sure enough, Rey soon stirred.

"That's how I learned to fly," she said.

"Oh?" Poe whispered in reply. After a moment: "You mean you'd never _actually_ flown before—?"

"No."

Poe huffed. "Kriffing Jedi, you guys are no fair."

Rey blushed. "Well I'm not as good as you."

"If you had twenty-nine years of experience like I do, I'd look like a bus driver compared to you." He glanced at her with a wry smile. "But by then I'll be retired or old or dead—"

"Don't even joke about that," Rey said.

"Kidding, sunshine."

"Not about that. You don't get to leave me."

Poe actually looked up from the game at that, guiding the starfighter with a fraction of his attention (he always treated sims like real ships, it was kind of compulsive), and he was floored by the intensity of her gaze. She looked fierce, almost possessive, and on anyone else it might have looked creepy, but Poe Dameron was comfortable with his kinks, and "Never," he said warmly. "Why would I want to do that, huh? Not many people are as lucky as me, to have Finn, and to have a Jedi scavenger pilot gearhead wonder-girl like you who loves us to death and drags us along on her crazy adventures not because she needs us but because she _wants_ us. I’d be crazy to leave."

Unused to praise, like Finn, Rey blushed and pressed her face into the pillow, the intensity from before melting away.

Between them, Finn began to stir.

Finn was fairly certain that he hadn't moved much while he'd slept: he woke up in exactly the same place he'd fallen asleep, one hand touching Poe and the other touching Rey. He wondered why he was awake, unless he just wasn't tired anymore, when he realized Poe and Rey had been talking. "How're you feeling?" he asked them, and then looked over at Poe, "Are you resting?"

" _Me_ , go against Dr K's orders?" Poe smirked, and landed his sim ship before turning off the game and leaning over to kiss them both. "Yes, I'm resting. I don't know how you two sleep so much. I'm getting totally bored." His stomach rumbled. "Also hungry, and I'm out of snacks." He sat up. "Hey, I could go grab us some chow, they'll be serving dinner now."

"No you don't, you stay here. I'll go," Finn said, and Rey shifted on the bed so she was sitting up.  "No running off. Just—stay here and get bored," he added, directing this mostly at Poe. He glanced over at Rey, as well, considering warning her as well. But she smiled that sweet smile at him, and he ended up rolling his eyes fondly instead. "You two..." he said, and kissed them both on the forehead before going to get dinner for all three of them.

Poe smiled fondly after Finn, and slid the game from his lap. "We don't deserve him," he commented.

She smiled and nodded, stretching into his space and flopping onto his lap. "That's true," she said, rubbing her eyes and squirming.

"How's your arm?"

"Not sure. Stiff, maybe. Will you help me get into the refresher?"

Poe did a double-take, not sure if she knew what she was asking, or if he had heard that right. "Uhh. Yeah?"

"Good. You might feel better, but I still don't feel…well," Rey said, nudging Poe's legs out of the way and scooting off the bed to stand upright. She made her slightly unsteady way to the washroom and turned on the refresher, shedding what clothes she could until her injured hand made it impossible to do anything more without hurting herself.

"Hey, okay, look, stop that, let me help," Poe said, going for the hem of her shirt—his shirt, technically, but he hardly noticed anymore. "I mean—may I help?" he amended, less because he thought she would be bothered being naked around him, and more because despite everything he had read about asexuality, so much of it was "it varies according to the individual" that it made him nervous.

Rey dropped her arms so Poe could help her and smiled up at him gratefully. "Yes, please," she said, letting Poe pull the shirt off over her head. The washroom was not quite warm yet from the steam of the refresher, and she shivered as the hair on her arms and legs stood up. Poe was being so cautious, so careful, and she smiled at him, grateful for the consideration.

"Uhh, you want help—in?" Poe asked, hovering awkwardly (she had a beautiful body and it was giving him _emotions_ ). "Or I can leave the door open and wait outside if you need anything. Sorry, I don't want to be, like, a total sleemo." He stared at a point somewhere above her head. "Oh, hey, you can't get in with your hair like that, let me—" he said, grabbing one of his combs and gently teasing out a bad knot that had formed.

Rey hadn't had her hair brushed by anyone else since she was a very small child, and it surprised her at first—usually she would have brushed it herself before she got in the refresher. She froze for a moment, uncomfortably aware that someone was behind her where she couldn't see them, and that they were close enough to touch her. Then she reminded her tired, still slightly foggy brain that it was only Poe, and that he was very gently brushing her hair. She was usually much more merciless with her own hair than Poe was being at the moment.

"There," Poe said, when he was done (the tangle was dealt with quickly, though he continued combing out her baby-soft chestnut hair for a bit longer than was strictly necessary, just because he wanted to). He kissed her cheek and set the comb down. "I'll be outside if you need me," he said, and stepped out of the small space and returned to the bedroom, breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn't screwed it up.

Rey managed for a short while, but just as soon as she'd wetted her hair, she realized washing it one-handed wasn't going to work. She was somewhat aware of what she was asking of Poe, but her hair was very desperately in need of being clean, and he _had_ said he'd be outside if she needed him... "Poe? I can't—wash my hair. You don't _have_ to, but would you mind helping me?" she called.

"Mind?" Poe said, poking his head back in immediately. "Mind?" he repeated, because either he or she were being dumb. "I— _you_ don't mind?" he said, and hooked a thumb under the waistband of his pants. "I could get my swim trunks on," he offered, but felt immediately foolish, worried he was being _too_ shy about this.

"No, of course I don't mind. I just didn't want to—you know—make you think I’m talking about anything more than your help washing my hair." She didn’t wanted to tease him, but wasn’t entirely sure that could be avoided, since she knew that Finn and Poe both found her attractive. And Poe was being so cautious of making her uncomfortable, the least she could do was not put him in a position where he was even more so. "You don't have to cover up anything unless you want to, but thank you for asking," she said.

Poe breathed a sigh of relief, dropping his sweatpants on the floor. "You couldn't make me uncomfortable, sunshine," he told her, stepping into the shower as he tried to focus on everything above her shoulders. At least he had a task to focus on. "Here, how's this one smell?" he said, holding the bottle of his favorite shampoo under her nose.

Rey sniffed at the bottle that Poe held out to her and grinned. "I like that one! Is that why your hair's so soft? You use nice-smelling shampoo?" she asked. There were quite a lot of different soaps and shampoos in the refresher, certainly more than was strictly necessary for two people. It was one of those luxuries she wasn't accustomed to, like nice pillows and a comfortable bed and all the warm blankets she could possibly need.

Poe barked a laugh that echoed in the small space. "Rey, I have just had my hands in your hair, and even dirty, it's the softest thing I've ever touched," he said, lathering a generous amount on her scalp. "We'll have to try a bit of conditioner on the ends of your hair," he said, and chuckled to himself: "Soft. I'll show you soft hair!" He grinned. "As long as I get to brush it again. Okay, rinse."

Rey turned and let the water run over her hair and her face, clearing away all the shampoo and making her splutter a little bit as some went up her nose. The movement, especially tipping her head, made her dizzy, and she wobbled a little, grabbing at Poe for support so she wouldn't fall.

"Oh, hey, whoa!" Poe said, stepping in close and hooking an arm around her waist before he knew what he was doing. "You okay? Need to sit down?" Looking down he realized they were very suddenly very intimately posed. Okay, yes, his dick was against her belly-button and her nipples were touching his chest and was this okay? It was _great_ for him, but did this bother her? The panic must have been evident in his eyes because when her vision cleared she pressed her lips together. "Sorry," he blurted out.

This was maybe a little closer to Poe than she'd intended to get, and certainly closer than they'd been so far, but...actually, it wouldn't have been weird except for Poe looking like he was absolutely about to _lose it_ and race away in a sheer panic. She went very still, concerned that his reaction might be to pull away and leave her alone. "It's okay. I mean, you don't bother me. This doesn't bother me.  Does it bother you?" she asked, straightening enough to hold herself up if she needed to.

"Sorry," Poe said again, then he actually listened, and blinked. "I—no! This doesn't—this is so far from bothering me! I thought—sorry—can you stand?" He grabbed both of her elbows in his hands, gently moving them apart but not letting her go. "It's—touching’s okay, right? Like, naked touching? I mean, I only wanted to make sure you didn't fall, and I know you don’t want—"

" _Poe_ ," Rey said, cutting him off and then kissing him gently. "Touching is okay. Even if we don't have clothes on, touching is okay. Touching is _great_. Thank you for not letting me fall, and please stop freaking out," she said with a grin. This was more nervous than she'd ever seen him, even when he was tripping over himself around Finn when Finn did something unexpected and adorable, leaving Poe clearly grasping for words. "Thank you for worrying, though. You're very sweet, and I love you," she said, without half the grace with words and feelings that Finn and Poe had.

"Oh," Poe said, and that sat a long moment before it really registered (okay, maybe he was still out of it from the lizard venom), and then he grinned brightly and hugged her to his chest. "I love you, too. Galaxies, I'm weird, I'm so sorry," he finally said when he released her, and she was Rey again, his friend, his _love_. How had he forgotten that? "I just—I’m sorry, I don't want to do anything wrong. But I know you'll tell me if I do, so I don't know what I'm worried about." He shrugged. "Sorry, here—conditioner."

Rey took the conditioner and put some in the palm of her hand before pulling her long hair over her shoulder and working it into the ends. "It smells different?" she asked, sniffing the humid air in the shower to get a hint of the lovely smell. It smelled like Poe's hair, which made sense since it was probably his.

"Yeah," Poe said, helping work it into her hair for her. "It's—I don't know what smell. I need a new bottle soon, actually." He looked down at her hair. "You're supposed to let it sit for a few minutes. Do...you want my help washing? I usually help Finn, even when we don't have sex," he pointed out, feeling the need to defend the offer but also feeling like he was being weird again. He was _making_ it weird—but no. There was nothing weird about healthy communication and boundaries, and he stood by his question. She even said she was glad he was worried, so there! "I just want to see where our boundaries are. You know how I feel about boundaries," he added with a smirk, and then realized what he said. "Ah—except intimacy boundaries! I don't push those. It was a bad joke."

Rey laughed and shrugged. "I don't really know what my boundaries _are_. I like being close to you and Finn, though. It's—" she searched for the word— "It's safe. Not that I need protection," she said, quick to defend herself even when it wasn't necessary. "But it's—well, it's nice. Being safe somewhere," she said. It was the closest she would come to admitting that she got frightened, sometimes.

Poe's face softened into a sad, almost wistful smile. If Rey—a Jedi, a pilot, a girl who'd taken care of herself all her life—needed to feel safe sometimes, maybe there was hope for mortals like him. "I know you don't. Need protection, I mean." He smirked now. "You just give Finn and I the illusion of protecting you—and we appreciate it. Fragile masculinities and all that." Then his grin faded, and he grew more serious. "I just worry I'm gonna mess this up. I'm not worried I'm going to, like, get so aroused I’ll do anything you don't want—like you wouldn't beat the shit out of me if I tried. I’m just worried—I guess—if I—I mean, you’re a beautiful woman, Rey, and I’m worried that if I—react a certain way, that you'll think I'm…disgusting?" _Was he really saying this twice in one day? What was his problem?_ "I don't want you just to feel _safe_ , Rey. I want you to be _happy_ with me."

"Why do you think I'd ever think you're disgusting?" Rey asked, looking up just a little to meet Poe's eyes. "I'll let you know if you're pushing any boundaries, okay? And you ask me questions, and we'll _talk_." She rested her forehead against his collarbone and let him hold her up again briefly, but on purpose this time. "Of course I'm happy with you. The two are not mutually exclusive, safety and happiness."

Poe smiled, releasing a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and he nuzzled her temple, planting a shy kiss there. "Yeah. Yeah, I know." He squeezed her as hard as he dared with her arm still hurt. "Thanks. It's just I only know—my way of doing things, but I'm trying, I really want to learn."

Rey nodded, and then laughed suddenly and blushed: “And, Poe, it’s not as if I’ve never seen an erection before! It’s not like it would _frighten_ me.”

“Okay, okay, I got it,” Poe laughed and planted another kiss in her hair. "Rey,” he said after a moment, “I like it when you're here with us. I love it. We both hate it when you're gone, you know—y-you know Finn had a really bad night that first night you were gone? I mean, I don't want you to feel guilty," he said, catching her gaze. "I know you have to train with Master Skywalker, and, well, I just want you to know how much you mean to us. How—you know—how safe and happy you make _us_ feel, I guess."

Rey frowned, having been unaware that Finn had had one of those bad nights last time she'd left.  "Are they all like that one the other night? That was..." _unsettling? upsetting? completely terrifying?_ "I was concerned.  He wasn't Finn." The memory of it was enough to make her shudder.

Poe nodded. "Yeah. Just the one, though. They don't happen often." He shrugged. "Once is too often, though, right?" He sighed and helped Rey rinse her hair, and handed her a sponge, pre-soaped. "I'm gonna give my hair a rinse. You okay to stand on your own?"

"I can always lean on the wall if I need to," Rey answered, switching places with Poe so she could lean her shoulders against the back of the shower while Poe washed his hair under the water. She washed her arms and her front, and even managed, still leaning against the wall, to wash her legs without losing her balance. She refused to even attempt scrubbing her back, because she already had one arm she couldn't use and didn't need to hurt the other one. She waited until Poe was done rinsing his hair and then held up the sponge. "Would you mind getting my back?" she asked.

A slow grin spread across Poe's face at that. "It would be a pleasure," he said, scrubbing the back of her neck and down her spine, stopping at her waist. "Okay, done? Or want me to go further?" he asked, kissing her shoulder. When she shook her head, he scrubbed under his own arms quickly and rinsed the sponge as she turned back around. "One more thing: I need a stubble update. You think this is a beard Finn would like to get lost in, or is it too much?" Poe grinned as they got out of the shower, helping her into a towel before getting his own.

Rey considered Poe's beard thoughtfully before, "It's just right. Give it another week and it'll look strange. Do you have grey hairs?" she asked jokingly, and then kissed Poe's cheek. "Just kidding—they look good one you. Or would, if you had them. Theoretically. Not that you're going grey or anything."

"Oh my _gods_ , Rey you're so meeeean!" Poe whined, covering his chin and recoiling, and going straight to the mirror to check. "My dad grayed early. It could happen to me! Don't even joke!" He was perhaps playing up the drama a bit much, but Rey was giggling so he laid it on thick. "Force help me, I'll have to dye my beard when I'm out with you two or they'll think I'm your _father_! Wahhh!" he cried, dropping to the floor where he pretended to cry, just as the door slid open. "Oh, hi, Finn. Just having a midlife crisis on the floor, don't mind me. Going to only fly expensive starships and date attractive young people from now—oh, _wait_."

"Finn!" Rey said, brightening as she clutched her towel to her.

"Rey said there's gray in my beard," Poe sobbed, his head thunking back against the wall. "Ooh!" he hissed, forgetting there was a bruise there. “Kriff.”

"I'm glad you're both following directions and resting and not exacerbating your injuries," Finn said dryly as Rey dropped to sit next to Poe on the floor, still giggling a little bit. Finn looked from one to the other and then raised his eyebrows.

"We didn't _do_ anything!" Rey said, which was clearly a lie, so, "Nothing exciting, anyway. Promise. We didn't do anything strenuous. Just a shower."

Finn just shook his head at this claim and came to sit across from them, announcing an impromptu "Floor picnic!" as he did so.

Poe had been about to get up, but then Rey and Finn gathered around him, and it was a nice change from the bed, he guessed, and this way BB-8 was at their level, too, and they always liked that. He grinned, laying another towel over Rey's hair. "Don't touch it. I'm going to brush it and do it up for you," he said. "After food." He beamed at Finn and leaned in for a kiss. "What'd you bring us, darling?"

"They had hamburgers tonight, for some reason, so those, and a couple chicken ones just in case either of you weren't excited to try real hamburgers—I wasn't sure if you'd still be feeling alright." Rey, at least, was still somewhat pale, although she acted perfectly fine. Poe, too, looked a little more like he'd had a bad night of sleep than he usually did. But Finn was secretly glad to see they felt well enough to be up, even if they weren't supposed to be. "Also, there are wedges of fried potato," he added, setting a single container with the potatoes in it between the three of them.

"My hero," Poe moaned, grabbing two potatoes at once and stuffing them in his mouth. "Okay, I didn't know how hungry I was," he commented, unwrapping the burger and digging in. Rey also didn't ask questions but leaned against Finn as she nibbled her food, and none of them spoke for a while. "Thanks, Finn," they finally remembered to say.

"You're welcome," Finn said, content to stay on the floor and let Rey lean on him for as long as she wanted, especially since Poe seemed more or less willing to also stay. The doctor had wanted them to rest tomorrow, too, but he wasn't sure how he was going to convince Poe to actually do that. He'd come up with something. "Did you leave any hot water?" he asked curiously, though he made no move to go to the washroom.  He _did_ feel kind of gross after so much sleeping, especially since Poe and Rey were both clean, but it could wait.

"Yeah, there's hot water," Poe said, licking his lips at the thought of Finn in the refresher, especially after all this unresolved sexual tension with Rey that was going to learn to live with for the rest of his life. "Can I watch?" he asked, with a stupid grin on his face. His cheeseburger was gone, but Poe was still prepared to eat all of those fries if his companions weren't careful. Luckily, they were eating quickly, too, and in the end he was lucky _he_ got enough. "Oh, there's chicken!" Poe realized after a moment, opening another sandwich and tearing into it, though he only got about halfway before his stomach realized it was full, and he stopped, staring at it for a moment before putting it back in the middle of the pile. "I'm full," he said.

"Really? You're just going to eat half and then put it back like there aren't bites out of it?" Finn asked as Rey laughed. He reached for the chicken sandwich and gave Poe a mock-severe look before pointedly finishing it. "Okay. I really do want to be clean," he said, and Rey sat up so he could stand. He hovered awkwardly for a moment before looking at Poe and smiling a little shyly. "Would you come with me?" he asked. Someday he'd become accustomed to asking for the things he wanted, but right now it still felt odd.

There was a joke in there about the hassle it would be to get wet again and use up another towel, but Poe didn't have the heart to tease Finn, who could so easily misconstrue things like that. Also, Poe Dameron was indeed just that easy. "Yeah!" he said, and sat up, trying to look more lively. "It's my 'fresher, after all. It would only make sense that I monitor its use carefully," he attempted to say with a straight face, but then he laughed. "No, that sounds perverted. I promise I'm not a shower stalker! Help me up!" He held out both hands to Finn.

Finn reached down and pulled Poe to his feet, using his grip on his hands as an excuse to pull him into a hug. Rey, not to be left out, held her hands out as well, and Finn grunted as he heaved her to her feet, making her laugh. "I forget how deceptively heavy you are," he said as she threw her arms around his neck. He had no trouble whatsoever picking her up, though, and did so, swinging her in a circle before he set her down.

"I'm going to read," she said, and crawled back onto the bed, rummaging on the floor for Poe's datapad. BB-8 followed her, going so far as to climb onto the bed and roll over to her. They beeped at her a few times and did that cat-settling-down motion before whisper-beeping and falling silent. Finn turned and gave Poe his best come-hither look, then sauntered off to the washroom.

"Don't fall asleep," Poe reminded her. "We have a hair date," he said, and winked, but then Finn winked at him, and his eyes grew wide and his cheeks flushed. "Oh boy," he said, following Finn back into the bathroom with a hunger that had nothing to do with food. "You know we haven't had I-almost-lost-you-thank-the-maker-you're-alive-sex yet," he purred, stepping up close behind Finn and resting his chin on his shoulder, wrapping his arms around him to begin undoing the buttons on his shirt.

Finn smiled, turning his head to kiss Poe's cheek. "Because you're supposed to be _resting_ ," he said, leaning back in Poe's arms. "And because we've been asleep, more or less," he added. Once his shirt was unbuttoned, he turned in Poe's arms so they were chest to chest and hip to hip, and held him close with his arms around his lower back.

"I—I rested," Poe protested, in case he was going to get in trouble. "You saw, I was reading, and I walked barely two meters here to the fresher." He hummed pleasantly as Finn pressed against him, eyes glazing slightly. "I'm perfectly well-rested. Are you well-rested?"

"Well-rested enough, anyway," Finn answered, kissing Poe gently, perfectly happy not to rush.  Poe had said it half-jokingly, he was sure, but Finn _was_ reminded, every time he touched the bandage on Poe's neck or caught him wincing because he'd forgotten he'd smacked his head on a large rock, that he very easily _could_ have lost him. Would have, if he'd chosen to stay behind—and he nearly had. It scared him, how much that one choice could have cost him, and cost everyone.

Poe felt Finn's grip on him tighten suddenly, and his breath hitch, and "No, no, hey. Hey, it's okay, Finn, buddy. I'm here. Don't—don’t play those mind games with yourself. I’m here and I'm yours and I love you," he whispered, chasing chaste, sloppy, urgent kisses, arms squeezing tighter around him.

 _But you could have not been_ , Finn wanted to tell him, but he also wanted to have a shower and not a panic attack.  He took a few deep breaths, letting Poe's arms and kisses bring his mind back from racing through all the horrible could-have-beens and what-ifs. "Good. You're not allowed to leave me," he said a little gruffly, and hooked his chin over Poe's shoulder briefly before stepping back and turning on the water for the refresher so it could warm up.

Poe gave Finn a lopsided grin. "Mm, both my boyfriend and my girlfriend getting possessive with me in one night. I’m a lucky guy," he hummed, following Finn like he was drawn to him with a magnet. And then he was pressing Finn against the wall of the refresher, firm but gentle, and kissing him hard. "I'm here now, and I would never leave you by any choice of mine. I know we were brought together for a reason, but Finn, in our line of work..."

"I know. I know that, but it's not all the time it feels like a real thing," Finn said. He wasn't so naïve as to assume that either of them or Rey could just avoid tragedy forever...but for his own sanity, he tended not to think about it often. "Anyway," he said in between another round of kisses, "We're here now," he repeated.

"And I'm grateful for every moment," Poe said. "I don't want to waste any time I have with you, Finn." He kissed him again and just pressed against him, going still and feeling his warmth, his energy, what he guessed was the Force surrounding them, binding them together.

"Mmmmm," Finn hummed happily, letting Poe press him against the wall of the refresher. He could feel his heartbeat where their chests pressed together, and it made him smile—he’d never get over feeling Poe's heartbeat, or hearing it when he slept on his chest. He tangled his fingers in Poe's hair and gently massaged his scalp, tugging softly every so often on the soft strands.

Poe moaned softly, whole body tingling from the tugs on his hair, and he let his neck fall back with the next pull, and he gasped as Finn's teeth brushed against his throat. "Finn," he keened, running his fingernails down Finn's sides. "Kriff, Finn."

"Easy," Finn said quietly, kissing Poe's neck again. He tugged a few more times on Poe's hair and held him close, trying to keep this from getting too out-of-hand too quickly. He was still somewhat concerned that Poe wasn't entirely as alright as he said he was.

"Finn, I want—" Poe whimpered, trying to rock against him, but Finn was holding him too tight for him to have any range of motion, and all the hair-pulling did was make him weak and tingly. He might have been about to say 'I want it rough and hard and fast and loud right here against the wall' but he _didn't_ actually want that. He still felt shaky and sick and not quite right, and, now, lazy from all the food. "I want—in bed," he whispered, embarrassed that he wanted to have sex lying down. What a square. But then—they couldn't very well ask Rey to _leave,_ and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. "For you to just hold me," he finally managed, cursing himself. He was sure his erection would go away in a minute.

"O-okay, I have you. I've got you," Finn said, slightly confused but maneuvering them so he could at least get under the water and get clean. He had a sense that there was something— _off_ —about Poe's voice, but he couldn't place what. Maybe Poe was nervous about sex because of his nightmares, and memories of Kylo Ren? Finn hoped not, but he washed them quickly and then rinsed them, and shut off the water, so as not to seem to pressure him. He was sure his erection would go away in a minute. 

Since Finn seemed to be in protective mode, Poe went along with it—and it wasn't as if he could deny he liked it, too, just letting Finn touch him and take care of him. Maybe he _was_ tired? "Love you," he said, feeling like a cruel tease and wanting to make it up to Finn, but not sure how. "You'll let me hold you, too, right?" he said, helping Finn dry off and making no secret of admiring his beauty, pressing kisses wherever he could reach. "I-I'm sorry. I think I'm just tired," he said, mostly to fill the slightly awkward silence, but then it sounded like _he_ was the one who wasn't interested in sex! Not that he _needed_ sex, either, he did love Finn for his personality, too—okay, and now he sounded disgusting even in his own head...

"Why are you sorry? I started it," Finn said, bending forward to give Poe a kiss. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked, rubbing a towel over Poe's hair until it stood up at amusing angles.

Poe flashed Finn a brave smile. "Yeah, buddy. I'm fine." When Finn laughed at whatever spectacular thing his hair was doing, Poe laughed, too, and hugged him tight and kissed him soundly, and that helped. That _really_ helped. "Let's go to bed? I have a date with Rey's hair, after all," he said, pushing through to the bedroom to find Rey dozing with her face on the datapad. "Oh, darling," he said, sliding the datapad away, which made her start up.

"I was reading that," she snapped, and Poe dropped it.

"Sorry, sorry." He should have known better than to try to take anything from a sleeping scavenger. He really was off his game. "Okay, come here, sit up. Gonna braid your hair. It's the tax for sleeping in my bed, at least until Finn's hair grows out," he added with a wink at his boyfriend.

Rey rolled over to her back so she could sit up and settled in front of Poe, glancing over at Finn as he joined them and leaned against Poe's shoulder. "Hey, I already pay taxes," he joked, reaching a hand out to touch Rey's hair. She laughed at them both.

"Nice shower?" she asked, though she hadn't heard anything, and Finn grinned at her.

"Nice nap?" he asked her in return, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I was resting my eyes," she protested, humming as Poe brushed her hair out again. "Where did you learn how to braid?" she asked as Poe worked, dividing her hair into two and braiding it close but not tight to her head. "Did you used to have long hair?"

Poe laughed. "Gods, yeah, at the Academy. It was an embarrassing look, I’m sure you’ll see holos someday. But never long enough to do anything like this with." Finn settled behind him, and Poe leaned gratefully against him. "I learned growing up, mostly: lots of little cousins, remember, so I only know hairstyles that keep hair out of the faces of six-year-olds," he said with a fond chuckle. "At the Academy I mostly used my powers to impress girls," he added with a blush and a shrug.

"Well, I'm impressed," Rey said. "Aren't you impressed, Finn?"

"I'm impressed. You should teach me," he said, resting a hand on Poe's waist and brushing up and down with his thumb. "Your hair is pretty braided like that," he told Rey, who shook her head gently to feel the hair move against her back.

"You could practice on me," she said vaguely, and Finn smiled.  He knew _that_ tone of voice. "No one's ever braided my hair. Or—maybe my mom, when I was very young..." she trailed off, but not as if she was sad, more as if she was thinking.

Poe snuck his arms around her middle, hugging her and pulling her back so that they both lay in Finn's warm hold. "I'll show you, Finn. Next time. Do we want to watch a holovid or something? I could torture the quetarra for a few minutes if you guys wouldn't mind. Oh, wait, Bee, you wanted those updates, didn't you, bud?" Poe suddenly decided, sitting up and sliding out from between them. _Why are you getting out of bed with your two favorite people for something that can wait?_ a small voice asked him, but he ignored it. "Want me to put on a vid?"

Rey was giving him a strange look, but then she smiled and nodded. "Sure. Next episode of _Amar en Tiempos de la Antigua República_?"

Poe groaned. "I can't believe you like that show." Okay, _he_ had liked it when he was her age, but it was _so cheesy_! Still, he put it on.

"Poe. Leave BB-8 alone, it's—well, it's not that late, but it's too late to start doing updates. Right, Bee?" Finn said to the little droid. They made an uncomfortable whirring noise, caught between Finn and Poe, and refused to answer. Finn tried a different tactic. "Come on, Poe, stay here.  Please?" He wasn't above begging, not at all. And apparently Rey was right there with him, because, "You can have the middle," she added.

Poe bristled, imperceptibly. He didn't like being told what to do on a good day, and even the sweet pleas from Finn and Rey were not overly welcome (probably because it was not exactly a good day). Did they think he _needed_ rest? Did they think they knew better than him? BB-8 needed his attention! This was his room and he hated that show and he was _fine_ , damn it, he was a big boy and knew his limits and could do whatever the hell he pleased—

Poe exhaled, relaxing his shoulders. He was being ridiculous. He chewed the inside of his lip briefly and then smiled. They _were_ pretty tempting, cuddled together on his bed and patting the space between them, he supposed, and it was still Poe's decision to go back to bed, so he crawled up between them. " _Fine_ ," he said, sounding put-upon, though he was grinning.

Rey had stiffened next to Finn, startled by the flash of anger coming from Poe, and she caught Finn looking to her curiously. But then she blinked, and Poe sighed, and the moment passed.

As soon as Poe had settled between them, Finn leaned into his side and Rey inched down so she could rest her head on Poe's hip.

Poe settled, running a hand over Rey's hair and holding Finn's hand tightly. It was almost enough, though he couldn't stop shifting and twitching his feet. He needed to _do_ something.

However, the show was distracting, and Poe began to remember why he liked it. It was for teens, so it was easy to follow and had ridiculously stereotyped caricatures of Privileged Coruscant Life with three friends—a Jedi, a pilot, and a prince—and it was pretty sex-positive, though it was also unrealistic. The love triangle unbalanced every episode because of something that would have easily been fixed by healthy communication, and Poe _wished_ they had just made all the characters end up polyamorously inclined and be done with it. _But no, they killed the pilot off in the last season so the prince and the Jedi could be together, hadn't they?_ he thought, remembering. Maybe that was why he hated this show.

Still, there was a sort of tame sex scene going on right now, which Rey seemed uninterested in (but not uncomfortable with) and Finn seemed way too interested in (the two male characters were flirting and then one pushed the other up against his locker and suddenly they were kissing), and Poe had to hold back a laugh. It was dark and you didn't actually see anything but bodies moving, and Poe was going to laugh and break the silence asking where the lube was in these holovid-sex-scenes before one of them crawled into the other one's lap and kissed him.

It was a stupid trigger, but Poe was up from the bed before he even knew what he was doing, upsetting both of his companions, who collapsed in the warm space he left. The whole lap situation was way too reminiscent of that _stupid_ nightmare-hallucination that made his skin crawl with how embarrassing it was (it wasn't even as scary or rapey as it was just _pathetic_ , now).

"Sorry, I thought I heard the faucet dripping," he said, going in to the bathroom and twisting the taps on the sink, and when he felt he could safely do so, he returned with an apologetic smile. "I'm gonna go ahead and do that update for BB-8 real quick, now that I'm up."

And without waiting for comment, Poe sat down, beckoning his droid close to where he kept his toolkit. If he was working, he didn't have time to  _think_.

 _Okay, you know what…_ Rey thought, clenching her jaw in Poe’s direction. She paused the holovid and got up, touching Finn's wrist and shaking her head before going to sit next to Poe and BB-8. She drew her knees up to her chin and watched him tinker with his droid. "I'm…pretty confident the faucet wasn't running," she said quietly.

Poe flinched, dropping his hydrospanner, which BB-8 picked up and handed back to him, and he felt bad, but Poe wasn't about to admit that the show _she_ wanted to watch had made him think about Kylo Ren. Not when she already knew and had gone through the same thing with Ren. But she and Finn deserved the truth: "Sorry, I just—don’t want to sit still right now. I'll be okay with something to do, and it always makes me and BB-8 happy when I give them upgrades." He leaned in and kissed her. "Please go keep Finn warm for me?" he whispered, giving her a private smile. "I'll come back when I'm done. Promise."

Rey gave Poe a long look, certain that there was something he wasn't telling her. She considered pressing, for a split-second, but pulled back, guessing how much they would both hate it if she did. She let Poe keep his secrets to himself and nodded. "Don't take too long," she told him, in a tone that was gentle but not remotely a suggestion. Then she went back to the bed and crawled up to curl against Finn's leg, resting her cheek on his thigh.

Poe nodded, and ground his teeth while he worked, while BB-8 trilled at him a bit sadly, not actually saying anything but just making noises, like an unhappy pet. "I _know_ ," he hissed as he upgraded their security system, unable to lie to his longest friend, especially when the little bugger could read his vitals. When the episode was over Poe didn't move to put in another one, and neither did Finn or Rey, and when Poe looked up from the completed work, they were both looking at him expectantly.

They deserved a hell of a lot better than him, so Poe decided they were going to get nothing less than his best. It was the least he could do.

He wiped his hands on a cloth and left the tools out to crawl back onto the edge of the bed. "I started thinking about Kylo Ren," he said simply, not looking at either of them. "It was an accident." This was like pulling teeth, but he was going to be _honest_ if it killed him. "When that—venom got me, I started dreaming that I—that he was going to hurt you if I didn't fuck him. It was stupid, and I'm sorry about what—happened just then. You guys deserve _all_ of me, and I'm sorry I let it get to me." Tears stood in his eyes, so he put his face in his hands and made a frustrated noise before taking a careful breath. "Thank you. For, ah. Waiting," he said finally.

"It wasn't _stupid_ ," Rey said, sounding remarkably fierce for someone who immediately threw her arms around Poe's shoulders and clung there tightly. She buried her face against his neck and held him. "Do you know what _I_ dreamed?" she bit out, and didn't wait for an answer, afraid she'd keep it to herself if she gave herself the chance. "It was—it was all of us. You were helping me find my family, but..."  She shook her head. "It was all wrong. I'd _made_ you do it. I'd killed Kylo Ren, and become something much worse, and I'd forced you both to stay with me, I was using the Force to make you my puppets because I thought you would leave me otherwise." She clung tighter to Poe, feeling in that moment how easy to want to make that nightmare a reality.

Poe swallowed hard at that—and though her pain hurt him, it made it easier to shift his focus away from his own problems: "But—but you won't," he said, one arm going around her while he tugged Finn into the embrace. "I've already promised you I'm not leaving you—either of you. And neither of us are leaving you, Rey, and Finn's staying right with me. Y-you don't have to force us." He shuddered slightly, afraid for Rey because he could think of no darker vision. "You never _could_ , sweetheart. You can't force us to do something we want to do, right?" he tried, kissing her hair.

Finn moved until he could wrap both arms around both Poe and Rey and hug them tight, wishing he could take away their nightmares like they probably wished they could take away his. "You're both stuck with me," he told them, "My sunshine and my stars." Rey actually let out a sob when he said that. Finn couldn't tell who started shivering, but there was at least a fifty percent chance it was him, all that fear he'd fought down earlier clawing its way to the surface. It had been _so close_. "I was afraid I'd lost both of you—or would lose you. I almost _shot_ Luke. I couldn't tell it was him, and I thought he was going to try to take you both from me, and I almost shot him," he admitted.

Poe laughed at that admission in surprise. "Hear that, Rey? I yell at Master Skywalker, and Finn tries to shoot him. I don't think your boyfriends like your boss very much," he said, and then lay back and pulled them down on top of him, pressing his face into Finn's springy hair. "I love you both. I'm not leaving either of you. And I know you're not leaving me. I thought _I_ was the scrappiest person I knew, and then I met you two. The galaxies can kriffing _try_ to take us from each other, I'll fight them all." He was gripping both of them hard enough to bruise, and they only let go when Rey complained of her injured arm trapped between them. She was crying when she pulled back, and so was Finn, and Poe brushed a thumb over each of their cheeks. "Best things that ever happened to me. Never letting— _yes_ , except for you, BB-8!" Poe said, slightly annoyed, but when Rey giggled he turned and hauled the droid onto the bed with him, grabbing a polishing cloth to treat his little friend with.

"Aw, who could ever forget Bee?!" Finn asked, laughing now, and reached over to give the droid a hug. Rey reached over too, touching them on the dome before saying, in a fondly scolding voice, "Bee, _how_ did you bend your antenna again?" She removed it, bent it back into shape, and put it back, causing BB-8 to wobble back and forth in that pleased way of theirs. They were beeping something in between the happy droid chatter, and Finn listened for a moment, trying to translate.

[Friends! Friends! Friends!] he heard, and laughed.

"It's not _bent_ , it's at a jaunty angle," Poe protested, ruffled that he couldn't take care of his own droid. But polishing BB-8's dome relaxed him, and Poe sighed as he melted into the tangle of cuddling limbs. Rey stuck her cold feet under his thigh and he didn't even mind. In fact, he kind of liked it. They didn't even watch anything or talk much for over an hour, just enjoying touching and being near each other. He smiled as Rey began to nod off. "Should we go to sleep?" he eventually asked.

Finn was yawning, too, by the time Poe asked if they should go to bed, and he mumbled a yes while Rey got a head start on stealing every last pillow she could get her hands on. Finn made a confused and sad sound when he realized his pillow was missing, and she grinned a sleepy, innocent smile at him. In the end, he traded her a kiss for a pillow, and snuggled up with his back to her, so he could pull Poe into his arms and tuck him against his chest.


	10. Chapter 10

Poe was tired, and he did lie down, spooning back against Finn with a sigh. He shifted, and then shifted again, trying to get comfortable. Finally, to get him to stop moving and go to sleep, Rey gave him a pillow, but that didn't help, and he had to kiss Finn's hands to wriggle out of his hold and try lying on his back.

Okay, he just wasn't tired, he decided, and sat up.

Luckily, Finn and Rey were already sound asleep by this point, and he tucked the pillow against Finn's chest so he had something to snuggle. He pulled on a shirt and went to the door, but BB-8 made to follow him.

"No, hey, no, buddy," Poe whispered. "Need you to stay with Finn and Rey, keep playing music. Tell 'em where I am if they get worried. I'm just gonna go work on _Black One_ til I get tired. I'll stay within range, promise."

The hangar was quiet and dimly lit, and it was a mistake to come out here without shoes, but maybe that would make sure he wouldn't spend too long out here. He nodded at a few night-owl techs and borrowed a lantern from Divo. _Black One_ needed a Nav Systems replacement, and that was a job that required a lot of muscle and focus, but was relatively quick, so it was perfect for Poe to lose himself in.

Finn woke up suddenly, confused to find a pillow, and not Poe, in his arms.  He was about to panic, but BB-8 rolled up next to the bed and twittered softly. [Friend-Poe is currently in the hangar. He did not want to worry you] they explained, and Finn sighed, annoyed. What was Poe _doing_? He touched Rey's shoulder and, when she was awake enough to comprehend what he was saying, said, "Poe's run off to the hangar. I'm going to go check on him, but I'll be back, and Bee will stay here."  She made a concerned face, but nodded and burrowed back into her pillows.

The night-shift techs seemed to know what he was after, judging by his face, and nodded over toward _Black One_. There were tell-tale sounds of someone working on it, and he scowled, not noticing as the techs made themselves scarce. Finn walked quietly over to where Poe was working and cleared his throat to announce himself. "I'm pretty sure this isn't taking it easy," he said.

Poe was in an awkward position, to be sure, squatting on a scaffold as he wrestled the Nav panel back into place, and it kept getting stuck. He was getting really frustrated when he was startled by a voice. "Finn!" he cried, falling back on his ass with the Nav panel on top of him. He smiled brightly, hoping to keep Finn from getting mad. "You're just in time. This thing is being stupid." He grinned a little sheepishly. "It's almost like _Black One_ is telling me to go to bed."

"Let's hope you listen to _Black One_ better than you listen to me, Rey, or the Doctor," Finn said, not in the mood to be subtle about his annoyance. He reached out and picked up the Nav panel, setting it gently aside and pulling Poe to his feet. "What are you _doing_?" he asked, exasperated, still holding Poe's hand.

"Hey, that needs to go back—in," Poe said, but catching the dangerous look in Finn's eyes, he immediately changed tacks. "Which can totally wait until morning," he said, deflating slightly and turning his palms up in Finn's hands in a kind of acquiescence. "Sorry, I was—just restless. Didn't want to sleep. But I'm okay, love. Didn't worry you, did I?"

"No, why would waking up from a dead sleep to find a _pillow_ instead of my boyfriend _worry_ me after the week we’ve had?!" Finn asked, grouchy because of course he'd worried, even if it'd only been brief. "I thought you were tired, earlier. You were _shaking_ when we were in the shower, and now you're doing _maintenance_ on _Black One_ in the middle of the night. That's _dangerous_ , Poe. I would have come with you," he told him. He'd have been unhappy about it, but if Poe had asked, he would have come. _Unless_... "Unless you just needed some time alone, and then I would have at least known to leave you alone, since Bee can monitor you when you're here."

Poe's brow knit as Finn spoke, and he dropped his gaze, though he snapped his head up at the end. "No! No, Finn, I'm sorry. I didn't want to be alone or anything—I mean, and I'm _fine_ , I just—"  It _was_ dangerous, he supposed, but only a little, and much better than staring at his ceiling. "I'm sorry I worried you. But, seriously, Finn, I'm almost done. You could help me get the Nav panel back in and then I'll come straight back to bed..."

Poe was apparently not going to be satisfied until he had the blasted Nav panel back where it belonged—or until he was distracted from the Nav panel. Finn made an annoyed, frustrated sound before grabbing his face and silencing him with a long, not-exactly-gentle kiss.

"It won't—mmf!" Poe said, cut off by a sudden forceful kiss that knocked him back into the scaffolding rigged to _Black One_. Finn was all muscle and teeth, and when they broke, Poe was breathless and dazed, the fire in him rekindled from before. He was grasping onto Finn's shirt as if for dear life, without realizing what his hands had gotten up to. "Uh." He smirked, having thoroughly enjoyed that, the tingle of possessiveness in Finn's kiss making him shiver in a pleasant way. "I—I love you, too, buddy—but—the Nav panel—" he said, hands reaching back to grasp blindly for tools.

" _Can wait until morning_ ," Finn growled, and redoubled his efforts to get Poe to forget about the Nav panel. He maneuvered them away from the tools and pulled Poe close to kiss him again, drawing it out this time. "Please stop worrying about the Nav panel," he said, doing his level best to be polite about it.

Poe melted into the kiss a little more this time, and moaned at how Finn's hands tightened around his biceps, squeezing like he was never going to let him go, and when he pulled back his mouth was a little slack and his eyes glazed. He grinned playfully: "You gonna make me?" he asked, biting his lip.

Finn raised his eyebrows at that, but the way Poe was grinning at him gave him a bit of a rush. "I'm certainly going to _try_ ," he answered, his grip on Poe tightening slightly. He liked the way Poe leaned into him, and he liked that glazed-over look in his eyes. And that _grin_ and the way he bit his lip (a habit, he'd noticed) did things to his heart...and to other parts of him, he realized, blushing a little. He groaned. "Okay, you didn't want to do this earlier but _now_ you do? Shouldn't you be _more_ tired now?" he asked before pressing a line of kisses to Poe's neck, drawing him closer so he could nip him just a little.

It took Poe a moment among the teething at his neck to realize that Finn was speaking words. To him. "Wh-hmm? I thought—" he shook his head. "No, I thought _you_ didn't want to and were just going along with it to make me feel better!" he practically squeaked in an effort to shout and whisper at the same time. "I thought I was taking advantage of you because—you're so damn nice!" Poe leaned in to kiss him and made a frustrated noise as he tested Finn's strength by pressing against him.

Finn rolled his eyes. "Well, we're not misunderstanding each other now, right?" Finn asked as he let Poe push back a little bit. He could easily have withstood the gentle shove, but he kind of liked it when Poe put him where he wanted him. Also, he was quickly discovering, he liked it when Poe _tried_ to arrange them and couldn’t because Finn wouldn't let him. "Note to self: bed Poe Dameron properly the first time so we could be in bed sleeping now rather than making out in the middle of the damned hangar," he growled, and kissed Poe hard.

Poe laughed at that, a little giddy, so Finn, making an executive decision, grasped Poe’s wrists and hauled him toward the hangar door, away from _Black One_ and her damned Nav panel. "I want this. Tell me what you want," he demanded, pausing to put one hand in Poe's hair and gently tugging to one side so he could kiss his neck again.

Poe nearly stumbled as Finn dragged him away, past Divo who had the balls to give him a thumbs-up at their disheveled appearance, to the hangar door, back toward their rooms. "Finn, I want—" he said, and when Finn stopped Poe took the opportunity to wrestle him against a supply closet door until Finn was actually looking at him. " _I want you to stop treating me like I'm going to break and fuck me,_ " he begged, sure he’d never been this honest in his life. He hadn't meant to say it quite like that, though—he wasn't sure Finn liked that word or that sentiment much—and he tried backpedaling: "Or just— _please_ , I want to sleep like a baby and still feel you in the morning. Let me taste you. Want you so bad, Finno," he gasped, voice tapering off into a small whimper.

Finn was surprised when Poe pressed him against the door. He was even more surprised when the door opened unexpectedly, sending him sprawling backwards with a very undignified squawk. He lay on the floor for a moment, dazed and a little confused as to what had just happened, and then laughed. "I didn't do that on purpose," he said, but didn't make any move to get up, since the floor with Poe on top of him was a convenient place to be anyway.

"Finn!" Poe cried, sprawling on top of him as Finn fell backward. "Shit, are you okay?" he groaned, crawling up his body to check his head and then kiss him. "Don't tell me now you're concussed, too, they'll never let us alone!" Also he might actually _die_ if he had to go to medical with a hard-on like this, but he was already laughing at how ridiculous they were.

But Finn laughed: "I'm great, this was really my plan all along—even though I said it wasn't." He squirmed a little bit under Poe, moving them until the door could shut. Luckily, the automatic light had come on when it sensed motion in the closet, or they'd have been plunged into confusing darkness. "The next part of my plan does not necessarily involve our clothes..." he said jokingly, fingers tugging at the hem of Poe's shirt.

Poe giggled, helping Finn strip him of shirt and pants in seconds before he clawed at Finn's clothes, which took slightly longer because Finn was wearing boots. It was definitely long enough to frustrate Poe, who took the time to rummage for lube in his discarded pockets. "Always prepared," he said in response to Finn's surprised look at the foil packet. "Now spread your legs and kiss me, baby," he demanded hotly.

"Don't call me that," Finn laughed, and sat up to kiss Poe, then pulled him down next to him and rolled to his knees, reversing their positions. "That's not what you said you wanted when you were pinning me against the door." He held a hand out for the lube even as he nudged Poe's knees apart with his own. The thought of doing this the other way around, of being inside Poe, was suddenly demanding all his attention. It might even be worth getting out of bed at one in the morning for. 

"Whoa—oh," Poe gasped, pupils blowing wide with lust, all bravado gone. He…actually hadn’t expected Finn to take him up on that. "Are you sure you want—?" he wondered in spite of himself. They hadn't really done this this way since that first night, and Poe had still basically been in control. But the way his legs shook and his stomach fluttered when Finn nodded awakened a raw need in him that Poe hadn't felt in a long time. "Don't be too gentle," he whispered, hauling Finn into a kiss.

"Tell me, then," Finn said, a little worried that he might not know where 'not too gentle' turned into 'too rough,’ especially with how much lust was probably clouding his judgment right now. They'd done this this way exactly once, after all, and he was still learning. He did remember some things, though, and nudged Poe's knees up until they were bent and resting against his shoulders. Then he slicked up a finger and just pressed it—gently, he would admit—against Poe's entrance, and then slowly, inside him. He paused, watching Poe's face carefully for any indication that he was moving too fast, or hurting him.

"I'll tell you," Poe promised, all in a rush, watching Finn from beneath his lashes. Finn looked so intense, like nothing would break his concentration nor his resolve, and it felt so good but also not enough and "Stars and skies, Finn, more, faster, please!" he groaned, trying to move against his touches.

Finn smiled and stroked the hand that was not currently occupied down Poe's side as he pulled out just enough to add a second finger. "Relax, love. We'll get there, I promise," he said as he pressed deeper, finding that bundle of nerves that he knew would make Poe gasp. "You're so handsome like this," he told him, smiling at Poe's already disheveled hair and the way his eyes looked a little glazed over. When he felt he could, he added a third finger.

Waves of pleasure were assaulting Poe, there was no other word for it. He was being personally victimized by Finn's wicked, bossy hands and his gorgeous eyes and—

He arched at that touch, grabbing Finn's hand as his vision whited out in pleasure. Distantly Poe heard Finn telling him he was handsome and that was just embarrassing because he didn't feel handsome he felt sweaty and needy and he actually had to keep one hand clapped over his mouth or the whole base was going to know what was going on in this supply closet. "Oh, Finn, Finn, you feel so good," he moaned, forgetting to move his hand from his mouth and having to repeat it. "You make me feel so OH KRIFF!" he cried, hips bucking again and his hand going to his cock, desperate and blind with need. This wasn't happening fast enough for Poe, apparently, and he squirmed in an attempt to take matters into his own hands and Maker help him he was a slutty bottom there was a reason why he didn’t usually do this _stars and skies_...

The whole goal of this had been that Poe _wasn't_ supposed to get so worked up that he hurt himself—which Finn should have realized was so much easier said than done. Hells, _Finn_ wasn't supposed to be this worked up, and yet. He paused for a minute, leaning forward to kiss Poe softly and to take his hand, intertwining their fingers and bringing his arm above his head. "Calm down," he told him, and waited for Poe to acknowledge what he'd just said and kriffing _relax_ just a little. “Give me your other hand.”

Poe shifted again, face heating as he whined, but Finn's eyes oh _kriff_ he could get lost in those eyes, he wanted to make those eyes happy he would do anything for those eyes and that voice oh stars and skies that voice that was meant to command, should be leading on the battlefield and wow he'd _fly into the sun_ for that voice—

"Fuck," he whimpered, shivering as Finn pinned his hand above his head. "Finn, Finn, I _am_ calm," he protested, nose flaring as he huffed and shifted again, but Finn was still waiting and wasn’t doing anything, and eventually, finally, he raised his other arm over his head and let Finn grasp both wrists in one hand, and went still.

Finn sighed and peppered kisses on Poe's cheeks and forehead and, finally, on his mouth, not pausing for breath even as he moved his fingers inside him again. He was having trouble reminding himself that he was clearly going to have to be the responsible party at the moment, with Poe squirming under him and shivering and _looking_ at him that way. " _Fuck_ you're beautiful like this," he moaned softly. This was killing him. He needed to be inside Poe _right now_ , whether or not they were supposed to be taking it easy and slow.

"Finn, Finn, Finn," Poe whimpered, shivering and oh Force he was supposed to be helping Finn he should be guiding him he needed to snap out of this and—

But when he tried to sit up Finn just pushed him back down with something like a growl and Poe _melted_. "Please fuck me," he begged, hips canting up in mindless, helpless abandon. "Please, I'm ready, I want you, I need you," he gasped, and surged up to kiss him. "You won't hurt me," he promised.

Finn needed no second urging: he shifted forward, removing his fingers and using the rest of the lube in the packet Poe had handed him to get himself ready. Then he leaned forward and kissed him gently as he pushed inside him. For a moment, pleasure whited everything else out, and he couldn't see or hear, though he was perfectly capable of moaning and pressing his forehead to Poe's. "Gods, you're amazing. You _feel_ amazing," he whimpered, shifting his hips just a little.

Poe blushed again, felt his cheeks and chest go hot, and then Finn was _inside_ him and with a wordless cry he felt himself spend, untouched, _how_? But he felt the mess between him that relieved pressure and coursed pleasure through him, except the assault of pleasure didn't stop.

"Finn!" he cried, trying to arch up. It was too much and yet not enough and he couldn't tell Finn to _stop_ but if he kept going he was going to get hard again—and oh kriff he wasn't exactly a _young_ man anymore—

But his mouth had other ideas as Finn began to move, seeking his own pleasure, harder and faster until Poe was dizzy with it: "Yes, force, yes, fuck, Finn, please, please you feel so good, stars you are _perfect_ you know that? Fuck fuck fuck don't stop don't oh _ow_ yes yes right there!" He wriggled like a worm on a hook in Finn's tight hold, sweating and gasping and okay yeah he was definitely hard again this was impossible Finn was a sorcerer _how_ was he—

"Kiss me, Finn, Finn, please," Poe begged, pushing against his hold just to feel how impossibly strong he was. Poe had never felt so taken care of in his _life_.

Finn wrapped Poe in his arms as much as he could and kissed him. "I love you, Poe. I love every single part of you, all of it, even the parts you don't like," he told him, and stopped telling him how amazing he was only because the way Poe squirmed and squeezed around him he came, suddenly, with a moan.

It was dizzying, how good it felt to watch Finn come apart inside him and over him: to hear his noises and see his face screw up. Poe didn't think many people had good O-faces, but Finn did, he _really_ did, and he gave this low sultry moan and then he smiled as pleasure spread through him and Poe thought he was going to faint as he kissed him.

" _Poe_ ," Finn whimpered, arms shaky, and kissed him several more times. He was about to lower himself, to hug Poe as close as he possibly could, but—

"Wait _how_ ," Finn asked with a laugh when he realized Poe was hard again, or still.

"Well if you're just going to laugh," Poe pouted, trying to get his hands free to take care of his own problem as Finn went soft and pulled out of him. "And if you weren't so kriffing hot I wouldn't _be_ in this mess!" This was entirely Finn’s fault.

"If you'd just be patient..." Finn crooned, not letting Poe's hands free. He rested his free hand on Poe's belly, then scratched softly down his waist and brushed his hand across his cock. "Let me?" He pulled back for a moment to catch Poe's gaze, looking for confirmation.

Poe shivered, grunting softly to agree with Finn about his impatience (all this _waiting_ , everything anyone had said to him today had been about waiting and resting, and it was slowly killing him), but Finn was so tender and gorgeous and _strong_ it was making him weak, and he nodded. "Y-yes," he said, his voice pitched almost to a whimper. "L-love you," he gasped. "Feels good, so good-d," he stuttered as Finn touched him, his hips canting up.

"Stop _helping_ ," Finn growled, pressing his hand against Poe's hip until he dropped it back to the ground. "Unless—do we need to stop?" he asked.

" _What_?" Poe shouted, forgetting where they were. "No! Do I look like I want to stop?" he hissed, sweating as he squirmed again. " _Please_ , Finn, don’t stop. I don't want to stop. Need you to keep going, please," he begged.

"Okay, okay, easy," Finn said, sated enough to find this amusing. He kissed Poe hard in apology and curled his fingers around his cock to stroke up just once, then several more times, almost lazily.

Poe moaned gratefully, lifting his head to press into the kiss, his whole body thrumming with need. "Love you, love you," he gasped in between kisses, and feeling himself near his edge (how, he wasn't sure, Finn was still a sorcerer), he planted his feet and arched up into the touch again, startling Finn and getting a good stroke out of it—he groaned—but  though he was close, _close_ , it wasn’t enough.

"You're still helping," Finn said, lightly scolding, almost playful now, and stroked a little harder, resting on the elbow of his other arm so he could tangle his fingers in Poe's hair. He stroked Poe faster, twisting his wrist and grinning at the expressions on Poe's face.

"Oh! Ohhh," Poe cried, gasping and whimpering and "There—there—kriff oh stars fuck Finn!" When Finn had let go of his wrists and had a hand in his hair and it was all over, he was spending all over them, harder than before if that was possible, back arching and hands staying right where they were, fists clenched, as he keened Finn's name, pleasure whiting out his vision for a glorious moment, and then he collapsed.

Poe felt dazed and loose and happy, his head falling to one side. He might have looked dead except his chest was going like a bellows, like he couldn't possibly get enough air. He remembered one word, and it was Finn, and Finn, and _Finn_ , and when he could speak again he was going to use his one word, he just needed a minute.

Finn would have been content just curling up there, in the supply closet, but someone was liable to find them. They could wait, though, for a moment. Usually, Poe always cleaned them both up, but this time, Finn rummaged through the supplies until he found a clean towel. He used it to wipe them both reasonably clean, and then nuzzled at Poe's neck. "Love you," he hummed, "My stars and skies," he added.

Poe moaned, blinking, but lifting his head more than an inch proved to be too much. Where had all his energy gone from before? Finn couldn't get him to stay still before and now Poe just watched as Finn cleaned them up, and he laughed a little. "Finn," he hummed, reaching an open palm toward him, not quite able or willing to lift his arm.

"Okay, _now_ we are going back to bed," Finn said, taking Poe's hand and bringing it to his mouth to kiss his knuckles. "Clothes first," he said, handing Poe his clothes and pulling his own on.

Poe nodded. He understood those words, and he draped his clothes over his body in the spots they should go, but this didn't seem right, and the floor was cold. "Finn?" he said, sitting up on shaking arms as he tried to navigate his shirt. Oh, wow, and his _ass_ hurt. Definitely be feeling that one in the morning, he realized with a pleased hum.

"You're trying to put your head in the sleeve," Finn said fondly. He batted Poe's arms out of the way and helped him into his shirt, then hauled him to his feet and helped him into his trousers as well. "Can you even walk, buddy?" He had his doubts. Poe was swaying, for one thing, and if he couldn't manage a shirt sitting down, Finn didn't think he trusted him to walk. "Where are your shoes?" he asked suddenly, realizing he didn't see any.

Poe shook his head. He felt drunk, like, _wasted_. Suddenly and totally blurrily exhausted. He had to stop doing this. Whatever this was. Where was he? "Finn," he moaned, and it was a beautiful word, but it just didn't carry _Sorry I'm an idiot and forgot my shoes and don't know how to put clothes on and I really shouldn't have been out here this late thank you for coming and finding me I love you thank you for fucking me please don't leave me out here like I deserve I’m a disaster I’m sorry._ He gulped, and swayed dangerously. "I forgot them," he said lamely.

"That was silly," Finn said, and sighed. "Guess I'll just have to carry you back. What a hardship," he said dryly. Before lifting Poe, he caught him close and gave him one last kiss. " _Poe_ ," he said, putting all the weight into saying Poe's name that Poe had put into his. Then he grinned, bent forward, and heaved Poe up and over his shoulder.

"Hey!" Poe squawked, as the world suddenly upended and Finn was carrying him over his shoulder, ass in the air. It _almost_ woke him up as he blushed in shame, though the flush to his face was also probably going to make him hard again if he wasn't careful, and Finn really didn't need his humiliation kink stabbing him in the shoulder right now. Also, this was better than walking, probably. It was late, right? No way anyone was going to—

"Oh, hey, Finn," Divo said.

Damn, Poe had forgotten he had been there, and in this position, now Poe couldn't see him. Maybe he could pretend to be unconscious? No, that would look creepy. Drunk maybe? No, Divo had seen him earlier. Shit.

"Uhh...hail the conquering hero?" Divo tried, laughing awkwardly.

"Damn it, Divo, you perv, get back to work!" Poe finally barked, lifting his head. "You didn't see anything, got it?" It was really hard to threaten a subordinate when all they could see was your ass, but Finn unhelpfully didn't turn around. This was probably payback.

"Forgot his shoes," Finn supplied as something of an explanation, though Divo was having none of it and looked on the verge of laughter. Finn blushed. "Could you maybe...not...mention this to the general? Or anyone?" he asked, more for Poe's sake than his own, but they did both have people to command.

"Mention what?" Divo asked, grinning, and Finn thanked him before continuing down the corridor.

Back in their room Poe breathed a sigh of relief, _oof_ ing slightly as Finn deposited him on the bed, and he grinned, opening his arms up to welcome Finn into them. "Finn?" he purred, shifting until he looked comfortable and inviting.

"Not in the clothes you were wearing to fix Black One," Finn said softly, taking the opportunity of Poe's open arms to pull his shirt off. He managed the trousers as well, and there were no shoes to worry about. After he'd removed his own clothes, he climbed into bed and snuggled up in Poe's arms. "Much better," he said, tucking Poe close to him, under his chin, with their legs intertwined. "I love you, Poe." Perhaps sensing heat, or maybe just feeling the bed move, Rey made a sleepy sound and rolled against Finn's back. He smiled as she buried her face against his neck (how could she possibly breathe like that?), tucked her feet in between theirs, and fell immediately back to sleep. "Love you, Rey." 

Poe huffed and squirmed, testing that Finn's hold was secure, like he tested the harness in the cockpit of _Black One_. Finding it to be so, he hummed and lay back, the room doing one or two spins as how tired he was caught up with him. And he was still— _still_ —enjoying the afterglow of his two— _two_ —orgasms in less than half an hour—less than fifteen minutes, easily! He found himself wondering, sleepily, like the scientist at the snake museum, if there wasn't a pharmaceutical application to that lizard venom, after all, but forget getting high, maybe it was a performance aid because _wow_. Poe knew he wasn't 17 anymore. He'd have to tell Finn, tomorrow, fucking _congratulate_ him.

But these thoughts were making Poe sleepy, and Finn's face was tucked up right next to his neck and his body warm and almost fully on top of him, the added weight of Rey (surprisingly heavy for her size, all muscle) pressing him down until Poe was one with the mattress. He blinked a few times as the world settled, and he found Finn's hand and tangled their fingers together. "Thank you, Finn," he whispered. "Night," he added, loud enough for both of them, and he didn't remember if there was a reply because he was out like a light.


	11. Chapter 11

Finn woke up to Rey talking in her sleep, still glued to his back like she was stuck there. Her arm was thrown over his side and when he blinked his eyes open, he realized she had her hand resting on Poe's side. Poe had shifted to face him in his sleep, and was snoring peacefully with his head resting against Finn's chin, and Finn smiled before tilting his chin to kiss Poe's forehead. He kissed him a few more times to see if it would wake him up, and rested his hand over Rey's, squeezing her fingers. He would have kissed her awake, too, but he couldn't reach her when she was burrowed half under him like she was.

Poe was flying. He had four wings like the S-foils on his X-wing sprouting out of his shoulders, only they were behaving like bird wings, so he burst through clouds and zipped down canyons and soared around trees, flying over D'Qar and the Resistance Base. He was free and happy and he waved at Rey and Finn, who were watching from below. He thought he heard "That's one hell of a pilot!" being shouted up at him.

And then he was back in his bed, and there were kisses on his face, and he hummed, moving his head against lips. "Mmfinnn," he hummed.

He heard a giggle, distantly, and as Rey woke she leaned into Finn, kissing the back of his neck and scratching her nails over his side before returning her hand to where it rested against Poe's side.

"Mmmorning, sunshine. Morning, Finno. What time is it?" Poe murmured, trying to lift his head, but as he still hadn't opened his eyes, this didn't help much.

"Time to wake up," Finn responded, kissing Poe's closed eyes gently before turning his head to look at Rey, who was partially draped over his shoulder. "Good morning," he said to her, and she kissed his cheek before sitting up and leaning back against the wall behind the bed with a drowsy yawn. "Nice hair," he told her, because some of it had escaped her braid and there were pieces standing on end like a cloud around her head. She just grinned at him.

Poe opened his eyes with a start. "It's morning already?" He must have been tired to have slept through the whole night. That hadn’t happened in…a while, actually. His first attempt at movement reminded him why he slept so hard, as his muscles ached deliciously. He groaned happily and stretched, leaning up to kiss Finn on the mouth. "I'm starving. Hey, Rey, let your hair down. See if any of the curl held." He always liked her hair best when it was pulled down from her three buns, as it gave it nice loose waves, but she only did this when she was about to sleep on it or wash it.

"Why?" she asked, predictably. "You just put it up." She turned to Finn: "And it can't look that bad." She still didn't understand why "looking bad" even mattered.

"Nah, it's cute," Finn responded, and Rey snorted, clearly about as concerned about this as she was about looking bad. She pulled the braided tail of her hair around her shoulder and untied the bit of string holding it in its braid. When she started brushing the braid out with her fingers, though, Finn put his hand on hers and stopped her. "You're going to put knots in it if you do it like that," he said, and started gently undoing the braid from the end of the braid up to her scalp.

Poe grinned softly, watching them: first, Finn was a natural caregiver, with everyone and anyone, and it made his heart swell how Finn just _knew_ how to help, without ever being taught it by anyone—not the First Order, certainly; and second, Rey's hair _did_ look beautiful, cascading in shiny waves over her shoulders. She was wearing one of his shirts, and he'd never seen a "Property of Republic Academy Boloball" look so good on anyone. "Anyone care that I'm hungry?" he repeated, rolling onto one hip before sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

Finn combed his fingers through Rey's hair to pull the last few knots out and then smiled, because she'd gone kind of vague and was gazing at nothing in particular. "We should go eat before Poe starves to death," he said, and kissed her on the shoulder, bringing her back to herself.

"Food is a good idea," she said. "Can't have the best pilot in the Resistance wasting away." She grinned and leaned forward to hug him and give him a kiss on the cheek before crawling off the bed by crawling right over him.

"Hey, you guys are making fun of me," Poe pointed out, rolling off the bed and into a more or less upright position before flashing them a smile. "Be right back," he said, ducking into the washroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. "Okay. Clothes. Then food," he said, hunting for clean clothes, and putting his dirty ones in the hamper, which made Rey smile.

"Poe, can I borrow—"

"Yes, yes, take anything you like," he said, opening his chest for Rey to rummage through. "Though this _is_ why we went shopping," he added. "So you could wear clothes made for you. Not that you don't look great in—" he licked his lips as she began to change right in front of them, "everything." He was unprepared, therefore, for when she threw his dirty shirt in his face.

Finn laughed as Poe spluttered around the shirt Rey threw at him. "These are much better than Jedi robes," she said, and Finn glanced over his shoulder, first at her, then at Poe, who was grinning. He rolled his eyes fondly and sidled over. When Poe still didn't notice him, he thunked the back of his hand against his stomach.

"You're staring and there's nothing to stare at," he told him.

"Oof!" Poe moaned, grabbing Finn's hand and pulling him close. "Staring? I've got _plenty_ to stare at with the two of you here," he whispered, capturing Finn's lips in a kiss. "Will you let me watch you, too?"

Rey grinned, her face scrunching up. "You're mad, the pair of you!"

"And you love us, so what's that say about you?" Finn asked, and ducked as Rey lobbed a pillow at him. He was still chuckling as he pulled a shirt on, and if he did that slowly and with a great deal more exaggeration than usual, well, Poe had sort of asked for it.

"You're ridiculous. Put your shirt on so we can go eat!" Rey laughed, ready and waiting next to Poe, one hand on his shoulder just because it made her happy to be able to do so.

"Mm," Poe said, his hands on Finn before his shirt settled over them, though he turned his head and kissed Rey's hand. She giggled and moved her hand closer, and Poe nibbled on her knuckles playfully until she whacked him in the head. "Hey, recently concussed, remember!" He was being torn apart by the two of them being so perfectly cute on opposite sides of him, and he tugged them into his arms so they were both in front of him. Finn was warmth and Rey was all elbows, and Poe kissed them each and watched them kiss each other with satisfaction. "Now I think I'm only hungry for what's in front of me," he said, guiding them back towards the bed.

"Too late, Rey wants breakfast, and I'm afraid to come between a scavenger and her breakfast," Finn said as Rey turned and bared her teeth at him playfully. "See? I'm afraid she'll eat my arm or something..." He took Poe's hand and called for BB-8, to make sure the little droid knew they should come if they wanted to.

"I can assure you, he tastes excellent," Poe informed her, dodging a swat from Finn with a laugh. "What's that, BB-8?" he asked as they made their way to the mess, missing half of BB-8's hooting.

[You have an appointment with the General in 37 minutes.]

"Oh, do I?" Poe asked, bemused.

[She just added it to our calendar. Friend-Finn and Friend-Rey are to report, too.]

"Oh." That was a bit weird. But there was no way she was... _mad_ , right? Poe shrugged it off. "Okay, gang, you heard the droid. We have officially been told to eat quickly." He laughed at the absurdity of his statement. "...Since I'm confident your trays will be empty before I sit down, basically this has been a PSA to me."

...

Rey could eat astoundingly fast when she put her mind to it. 

"Did you even taste it?" Finn asked her after he'd finished his own breakfast, a minute after she'd finished hers.

"Yeah?  The eggs are good this morning. There must be some real ones in there with the powdered ones," she told him. Then she turned to BB-8. "Did the General say _why_ she wanted to meet with us?" she asked a little nervously. Finn leaned closer so he could hear the answer. Poe seemed unconcerned, but Poe was frequently unconcerned, and Finn had gone from wondering if they were in trouble at all to wondering, instead, how _much_ trouble they were in.

BB-8 tooted a negative, but the little droid clearly had a guess. Poe was already going over it in his head and deciding he could probably get Finn off easy because Poe was the responsible and highest ranking officer, and Rey wasn't exactly under Leia's jurisdiction.

"Hey, it's fine," Poe said aloud, since his companions seemed worried. "We knew this was going to happen. You know I got yelled at for staying behind to make sure the _Falcon_ got off the Starkiller planet? It worked out, but I technically disobeyed an order, and even though she was proud and grateful she still had to give me, I forget, I think it was extra patrols and some paperwork headaches. It happens all the time, no big deal." He squeezed Finn's hand and winked at Rey. "Yes, I know I can't eat and talk, BB-8. Geez, how are you guys done already?" Poe laughed, shoveling most of his breakfast into his mouth.

"You said eat fast," Finn answered. He didn't add that what Poe had just said made no sense.  Staying behind to make sure the _Falcon_ got away from imploding Starkiller was disobeying an order to ensure other people's survival. Going on an unplanned mission when it had already been forbidden was disobeying a direct order for not much reason other than impatience. And even if he'd wanted to, he couldn't claim that he'd only been going along with their plan, because he'd had ample opportunity to tell either Luke or Leia, and he hadn't.

When they finished Poe led them down the hallways to the General's office, a few minutes early. She had a few aides with her, who looked embarrassed, and Luke Skywalker. "General. Sorry we're early," he said, and she beckoned them in. Also, the chairs were gone, which was weird. They were going to have to stand.

 _Shit_.

"Come in," she said. "And shut the door." The aides remained.

Though he stood absolutely straight at attention, Finn already wanted to crawl under something and hide, and the General hadn't really even said anything yet—though he pretty much knew what was coming. He shot a nervous look to Rey, who looked similarly panicked.

She had frozen where she stood, and looked to be deciding whether she might have to beat a hasty retreat. Finn reached over subtly and brushed his hand against hers, a silent _it's okay—we’re here_. Then he returned to attention, because if he knew nothing else, he knew that you didn't cower when your superiors gave you the look Leia was currently giving the three of them. He'd been reprimanded before more than once, but never by someone he actually liked and respected.

Poe pushed his shoulders back and tilted his chin up at attention as Leia began: "Luke told me that he declared the Mortis mission too dangerous to attempt," she said evenly, slowly.

"Yyyes...ma'am," Poe affirmed, less cavalier than before, but not rolling over just yet. “He said he thought it was, yes.” The emphasis on the second _he_ was so slight as to hardly be noticed.

"And yet you went."

"On a successful mission, yes," Poe pointed out. "We got the kyber crystals."

"You disobeyed a direct order. My brother does still hold a General's rank."

Poe bristled, and lashed out in kind: "So when's he getting written up for going AWOL for ten years?" he couldn't help but press, and when Luke snapped his head up, "With all due respect. Sir," he said before turning back to Leia: "I know it was stupid, but we achieved the objective and returned. So are we talking slap on the wrist trouble, permanent record trouble, or a few days in the stocks trouble?" Poe had hoped a joke would lighten the mood, but it was apparently the absolutely wrong thing to say.

Leia hit her desk with her fist. "You nearly got our _only_ Jedi Padawan, our _only_ First Order defector, and our _best_ pilot killed! I don't care why you did it!" She was furious.

(Looking on the bright side, it meant Leia had been worried about them, which warmed Poe’s heart, even if he was going to pay for this.)

Poe snapped his mouth shut and ducked his head in grudging apology. He then stepped forward and raised his head. "In that case, General, as the ranking officer, I would like to take _full_ responsibility for the mission, and I would like to submit myself for reprimand."

Finn winced, and next to him Rey had been shifting by tiny degrees closer to his side, but was otherwise staying silent and as invisible as possible. But when Poe tried to take responsibility, they both reacted.

"Don't you dare," Finn started, turning to Poe. There was no telling what she would do to him!

Rey stood straighter and leaned around him to add, "It was _my_ idea!"

"Stand down," Poe growled, taking a tone with them he had never actually used before: _this is a battle situation and you do what I say._

Finn and Rey stopped and looked at each other, then Poe, then back at the General and Luke and went quiet again. Rey resumed attempting to blend in with the floor, and Finn cleared his throat before going back to watching the General warily.

Poe continued quickly: "I would like to state for the record that Finn was completely against the mission from the beginning and that he saved our lives on the planet. When I make a full report—"

"You will make a full report now," the General said, and leaned back in her chair.

Poe coughed, but launched into an explanation, as military as he could manage. "Ah, okay. Okay, we, left at 0700, arrived in seventeen hours. Had some trouble getting to the planet surface. Might have gone through an ion cloud, because everything shut down and—we—" Okay, there was no way this wasn't going to sound bad. "We lost consciousness until we were on the surface.” He continued quickly: “Exited the ship in fully protective suits, which Finn insisted on. Ah—Rey and I had to go ahead for the crystals, swimming, and because my suit started fogging up, and I think Rey needed physical contact with the crystals—we came into contact with, ah, with the lizard venom. It's kinda hazy after that for me, but Finn executed the extraction and kept us alive. R-Rey and I would have certainly died if not for his bravery." Poe licked his lips. "And if Master Luke hadn't found us, probably." His face flushed, but he didn't lose eye contact.

Leia sighed finally. "Luke, Rey is yours."

Luke smiled kindly, shaking his head. "Leia, go easy on them. Nothing we wouldn't have done when we were their age."

Leia stood up, ignoring her brother. "I am trying to run a _war_ , here, gentlemen. Take this down,” she snapped to an aide. “Commander Dameron, you will serve double duty on all your shifts and responsibilities until further notice. This is going on your permanent record, and I don't want to look at you for at least a week. Finn—" But one look at Finn and she softened, seeing he was already well on the way to punishing himself. Or expecting a First Order punishment. She sighed. "Finn, double duties for you, too. I'm grateful for what you did, and I'll leave this off your record. I want you in classes for Officer Track, so if you do this again, I will punish you as befits an Officer of the Resistance. As an NCO, you're getting off easy. I’ve let things slide because, honestly, your personal lives being what they are is good for general morale. But I need you both, and I want you both kept busy enough that you don't have any  _time_ to get into trouble. Understand?"

Poe straightened, and nodded.

"Yes ma'am," Finn answered, just loud enough to be heard. Even with Poe leaving out the worst of the whole thing, hearing it recounted reminded him all over again just how bad it _could_ have been. He half-expected to be dismissed so Luke could deal with Rey, and was dreading it—she’d contrived to end up practically standing on his feet. He had a sudden impulse to remind her to stand up straight and not make this harder on herself—and was reminded with a pang of Slip. When he turned to glance at her, she was doing a good impression of a cornered animal, one more used to avoiding angry people or running from them than to staying in the same room as them. He thought he might do anything to protect her.

There was a silence, except for the aides typing quickly. This whole process was mortifying, but Poe fumed silently. If it had just been him, he might have argued more, but with Finn and Rey there, he just wanted this over. Any second Finn or Rey or both of them were going to bolt, or Finn was going to have a panic attack or a flashback. He needed to get them out of here, and he was about to ask if they were dismissed, when Luke spoke.

"Rey, don't be afraid," he said kindly. "Fear weakens our strength in the Force. And you don't ever need to be afraid of me. I am not angry. I am not going to punish you." He stood up. "The Jedi is not a military, and anyway I can't imagine a reprimand worse than knowing what you have helped get your friends into."

Luke might have smirked at Poe and Finn, which Poe actually appreciated: he deserved that.

"Our actions have consequences. Some of them seem good, like having kyber crystals to continue your training. Some of them seem bad, like us needing to leave D'Qar. We will return to the Jedi Temple for you to build your lightsaber. We'll leave in an hour."

Okay, extra duties Poe could handle, but _that_ felt like a punch in the gut.

In the unhappy silence after Luke finished talking, Leia dismissed them, but not before telling Finn to stay behind for a moment. Poe remained stoic as they were summarily dismissed—along with the aides and Luke.

Finn watched Rey and Poe both leave without him and then decided staring at the wall would be better than actually meeting the General's eyes. When the door had clicked shut behind him, she stood and came to lean against the front of her desk. She was quiet for what felt like years to Finn, and he considered if it was worth bolting after all, since the temptation to do so was becoming almost unbearable.

"Finn?" Leia asked, and he realized she must have already said his name several times. How much worse could he make this for himself? "Finn, look at me," she told him, and he did, though it was in no way reassuring—he didn't know her well enough, like he did Rey and Poe, to be able to really read her expressions when she was being subtle.

"First of all, stop panicking, and take a breath before you fall over." Orders, Finn could handle, and he let out the breath he'd been holding. "Whatever you're afraid someone is going to do to you, it isn't going to happen," she told him gently but firmly, and some of the confusion must have shown on his face. "Finn. We don't reprimand our troops or deal out punishment the way you are accustomed to." She stepped within arm's reach of him and put her hand on his shoulder, and he winced. "No one is going to _hurt_ you. Do you understand? That's not how the Resistance is run."

He nodded, numbly, and she stepped back to her desk, waving to dismiss him.

"Good. Go on, now, before I have to deal with my angry pilot and Luke's angry Padawan." Finn would have liked to say he didn't flee the room, but that would have been a lie.

Outside, "Take your time saying goodbye. We'll be gone two or three weeks, I imagine," Luke said, and then flashed Poe a smirk: "Since Commander Dameron here requires I check in with him before going anywhere for any length of time."

Poe winced slightly. "Damn it, I'm sorry, General, I—" got scared and lashed out, "got defensive and stupid—"

Luke held up a hand. "I wouldn't go AWOL for ten years if I still hoped you would call me General. Just Luke is fine. I mean that," he said, looking between the both of them. "I'll be in the _Falcon_."

Poe tugged Rey into an embrace. "You take care of yourself, sweetheart," he said fiercely.

"Got it," she said, her voice tight. "Only dangerously stupid missions when you're around to come with me." Her face broke as she looked up at him. "Poe, I'm _sorry_ —"

Poe cut her off, shaking his head and laughing. "Rey, I knew what I was getting myself into. Don't apologize." He kissed her forehead. "Promise me you'll make those kriffing crystals worth it, and you build that kriffing lightsaber and you kick Kylo Ren's bantha-kriffing ass with it." He hugged her again, and she wound her arms around him tight.

The door opened, and Finn appeared, looking shaken. "Hey, Finno, come here," Poe said, putting on a brave face as they opened up their embrace to welcome him inside it.

Finn was more than happy to bury his face in Rey's shoulder as she put an arm around his waist and Poe draped one across his shoulders. "You're going to make the best lightsaber," Finn told her, and she nodded.

"I should get some things from the room," she said, pulling away from them slightly, though not completely.  Her locket, for one thing, was still there, and a few of her clothes.

"We got the new picture loaded to the lockets, right?" Poe said, putting Rey in the middle and leading them back to their rooms. "The one of us making stupid faces while Finn looks like an underwear model."

BB-8 chirped an affirmative.

"Good, thanks, buddy. Here, where's mine?" He threw his over his neck and bestowed the lockets on Rey and Finn. "Can't take 'em off til we meet up again, okay? That's the rule."

Rey smiled and touched hers, and then Finn's and Poe's.

In the privacy of their room, Poe cast his gaze to Finn. "Are you okay, bud? You know the General doesn't hate us, right? We pull some extra shifts and it's all forgiven."

"I'm okay," Finn answered, because the alternative was trying to explain how he wasn't okay, and he couldn't put it into words. Rey touched his shoulder in silent support, and he smiled at her, pulling her to him to give her a hug. "I love you, sunshine," he told her, voice soft (and maybe wobbling a bit) and she squeezed him harder.

"I love you, too. Stay out of trouble, or I'll get BB-8 to zap you again," she told him, and stepped away. "I better go. Are you—will you walk with me to the _Falcon_?" she asked.

"Absolutely," Poe said with a laugh, following her down to the hangar. Glancing at the roster up on the board was a mistake—she had really _already_ got him on the schedule for a double patrol tomorrow? A pissed off Leia Organa did not kid around—he would do well to remember that for the inevitable next time he decided to disobey orders. But Poe kept his affect cheerful, as much for Finn, who still looked nervous as hell, and Rey, who deserved better than to see their mopey faces as she left.

Poe turned Rey to face him at the ramp of the Falcon, cupping her chin playfully. "Promise me when you come back you'll wear your hair down just for me," he whispered.

She rolled her eyes at that, and then, seeing he was serious, she grinned suddenly. "Only if you promise to shave your beard for me!" she retorted, and Poe laughed.

"What is my life? My boyfriend likes the beard, my girlfriend likes me clean shaven! What a terrible, awful problem to have," he said, and kissed her full on the lips. "See you soon, Rey."

Rey turned to Finn, throwing her arms around him. Finn gave the best hugs.

Finn hugged Rey to him as hard as he could without hurting her, lifting her feet a short distance off the ground and pressing his cheek to hers. When he set her down, she held on for a bit longer, and he got the distinct impression that it was to get strength as much as it was to give it.

"Don't let our flyboy do anything stupid," she told him, grinning, and bounced to her toes to kiss him—full on the lips, just like Poe had kissed her.

"I'll try. Don't you do anything stupid, either," he told her, and she nodded agreement.

As she turned to walk up into the ship, Poe slid his arm around Finn, waving with his free hand until the gangplank was up and the ground crew started waving them away. He stepped them back, watching the _Falcon_ roar to life (after a few tries—good, it wasn't just him, then) and ease out of the hangar. They watched until the speck in the sky was gone. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it's a bit of a cliffhanger, but please subscribe to the Series to find out how our boys deal with being in the doghouse with the General in the next installment!


End file.
